


Glory & Gore

by bitchinwitches



Series: Girls Bite Back [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Marauders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-01-27 21:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1722584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitchinwitches/pseuds/bitchinwitches
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lia Foxe & Carter Edevane were only interested in two things: good music & good snogs. But, things may not stay as simple as they seem. Being friends with the marauders could do that to a person. You were dragged into excitement whether you liked it or not. </p><p>Of giant birds & muggle-borns, sexy professors & magic spells, these mates were going to have a bigger adventure than planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We Built Another World

_"There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours."_  
\- Jean-Paul Sartre

-x-x-x-

Remus rushed through the crowd of people in the train station, headed towards the familiar spot between platform nine and platform ten. People darted out of his way, fearing that he would run them over in his hurry. Though he hardly had time to weave his way through the crowd carefully. He naturally assumed he was late, as he seemed to be every year, without fail. Especially with all the time that argument with his parents had taken up. Typically, they saw him off, but he assured them that he was fine on his own this year, and after much negotiating they had agreed to drop him off. He was mostly anxious to reunite with his friends, as he hadn't seen them in far too long.

His trunk wobbled uncertainly on the cart he was pushing, accidentally bumping into someone in front of him. "Sorry," he mumbled half heartedly, not even bothering to look at the person he had hit in his rush. He looked at the muggle watch that hung loosely on his wrist, sighing in relief when he saw that he had plenty of time to spare. He slowed to a leisurely pace, stopping only when he saw a familiar face.

A few yards away, a tall girl stood arguing with a man who Remus knew to be her father. He couldn't hear what they were saying over the rushing sound of voices around him, but he had heard enough of their arguments to imagine what was happening. And though she was facing away from him, he could picture her bright blue eyes flashing angrily, in stark contrast to her tan skin. Her curly brown hair bounced as she shook her head vehemently at her father, completely ignoring the younger girl that stood next to her.

The younger girl scanned the station, apparently zoning out the argument happening in front of her; she was far too used to this sort of thing, having witnessed what felt like hundreds of their arguments. Spotting Remus, she grinned widely and waved at him, standing on the tips of her toes to see him easier. Though she was eleven, she was far shorter than average. He grinned at the younger girl, amused by her excitement.

"Oi! Lia!" he called loudly, walking over towards the trio, and interrupting their argument. She whipped her head around, startled at the sound of her name. Her frustrated expression transformed into a wide smile when she saw who was yelling for her.

The two hadn't seen each other in weeks, which was rare for them, having lived next door to each other for years. Remus smiled back at her, anxious to talk to her after so long apart. He was more accustomed to seeing her daily, but her father had decided that they all needed a vacation towards the end of the summer, much to Lia's disdain. 

Lia ran towards him, meeting him half way, and throwing her arms around his neck in a hug. Her arms tightened around him, burying her head into his neck. He welcomed the hug readily, melting into it nearly immediately, wrapping one arm around her waist, and settling his hand on her lower back. Remus reluctantly let go when she ended the hug as quickly as she had initiated it. She pecked him on the cheek as she pulled away, completely oblivious to the half-smile that it brought. She launched into one of her infamous rants, and he tried to resist the urge to hug her again. 

"Apparently because Lola is a first year, I have to endure the responsibility of year long babysitter. I mean, I was completely fine alone during my first year. And each year after that, for that matter," she said, not stopping to take even a single breath. Remus listened attentively, an amused smile playing on the corners of his mouth. He nodded as she continued, explaining how her younger sister was nervous about the sorting, and how their father was insisting she was to watch out for her.

It was a common occurrence for Remus to hear about how Lia was expected to watch out for her younger sister. Especially since the oldest Foxe daughter, Annette, had moved out the year before. Lia's words washed over him in a blur as he studied her face, mostly ignoring all that she was saying. He had probably heard it all countless times before anyways. Long lashes accentuated by copious amounts of mascara, eyes outlined in black eyeliner, her hair falling in her face. She scrunched her nose up as she said something, though Remus hadn't caught whatever it was. 

"...Honestly, I just want to get on the train and get out of here," Lia concluded, finally taking a break from talking, and breaking Remus out of his reverie.

Remus took the opportunity to cut in, "Well, perhaps we could get the luggage you left with your dad and get on with it," he suggested, gesturing towards the trunk, topped with a particularly small owl in a cage, that Lia had carelessly left behind with her father.

Lola looked at the two expectantly, waiting silently, but impatiently, while her father just glared. Lia let out a groan, annoyed with the prospect of having to interact with him again. She cut her eyes to Remus, making sure he knew of her absolute reluctance. He tried to hold back a smile. Merlin, he had missed her.

She stalked over to them reluctantly, leaving Remus waiting patiently behind. As she reached for her trunk, she immediately fell into another argument with her father. Remus rolled his eyes and sighed, walking over to interject. There were prefect duties to attend to, he had no time for this. He placed a hand on Lia's shoulder, somehow halting her speech.

"Could I steal Lia, Mr. Foxe? We really do have to get to the train. Otherwise it might leave without us," Remus told him, despite the fact that the train didn't leave for a bit yet. He watched Mr. Foxe expectantly, hoping that the time the train left was included in his lack of knowledge on the wizarding world. Despite the fact that two of his daughters ended up being wizards, their muggle father had little to no interest in learning of wizardry. Thankfully, he seemed oblivious as he nodded, leveling Remus with an even glare. Remus just stared blankly back, being far too used to Lia's father for an annoyed look to intimidate him.

"Yeah, daddy! We really have to dash. Let's go, Lola," Lia agreed, holding her hand out for her little sister to grab. 

-x-x-x-

"C'mon, Calypso. Work with me here," Carter muttered, trying and failing to shove her purple cat into a cage. Calypso hissed angrily, digging her claws into Carter's arm, attempting to get away. Carter groaned in annoyance. Why had she thought getting a cat her first year was a good idea? Her brother had tried to talk her into getting an owl, but no. Carter had insisted on a purple cat. So what if an owl was more practical? The cat was purple. Little did she know at the time, it was also evil. Carter silently cursed her naive, eleven year old self, cursing her cat aloud.

"Need some help?" she heard a deep voice say behind her. She glanced behind her to see Sirius leaning against the door. He smirked at her, amused. Carter glared at him, hoping it would scare the smirk off of Sirius's face. Unfortunately, as per usual, it did not. 

"I got it. Thanks," she said, sarcasm dripping from her tone. Calypso took Carter's momentary distraction to her advantage, squirming from her hands. Using Carter's shoulder as a step stool, she attempted to leap away, only to be caught effortlessly by Sirius. He walked over to the cage and locked Calypso inside, ignoring Carter's stunned look and Calypso's angry yowls. 

He looked down at Carter, who was still kneeling on the floor, "You sure?" he asked teasingly, grinning at her and ruffled her hair. The smile on his face didn't falter as she looked at him with annoyance.

She stayed silent, sitting down on one of the two benches in their compartment, and smoothing down her wavy, dark brown hair. He plopped down next to her and nudged her shoulder playfully. "You're terrible at hello's, you know," he said, turning towards her, eyes sparkling with amusement. Not that she was looking at his eyes, of course.

She rolled her eyes at him, the corner of her mouth twitching as she fought back a smile, "Never once have I heard the word hello come out of your mouth," she said, trying to look as stern as possible. That only lasted a few seconds before a grin broke through her angry visage. As much as she'd like to continue to feign anger at him, she couldn't help her excitement at seeing him after an entire summer apart. She turned and hugged him tightly, burying her head in his shoulder. He returned the hug, inhaling the scent of her floral shampoo as he rested his chin on top of her head. 

"Aw, did someone miss me?" he asked as they pulled apart. 

"Can it, dumbass," she said, despite the small smile she couldn't seem to drop. 

Before he could retort, the door slid open and they were interrupted by Lia and Remus, who were still absorbed in a conversation that must have begun in the hall. 

"And that's why I don't go near public bathrooms anymore," Lia was saying, followed by an exasperated sigh. 

"Is that why you made me take you all the way back to the hotel in the middle of the day?" Remus asked, looking incredibly annoyed, but slightly amused nonetheless. Lia stuck her tongue out at him in response, before turning to Carter and Sirius with an excited, open-mouthed grin on her face. Carter leapt from her seat, and the two shrieked excited greetings at each other, grabbing one another in a bone-crushing hug. Sirius shook his head at the two. Honestly, he had no clue as to why girls reacted the way they did after such a small time apart. All it did was give those surrounding them a piercing headache.

"Sure, you tell her hi," Sirius muttered. Carter ignored him, and continued talking animatedly to her best friend. 

"Merlin, Lia! I can't believe you didn't visit all summer!" Carter exclaimed. 

Lia rolled her eyes, "You know very well that you could have visited me," she said good-naturedly. Their voices drowned out Remus and Sirius's greetings to one another as they continued admonishing one another for not visiting.

Finally, Lia took a seat next to Remus on one of the benches, "So what did you do all summer, anyways?" Lia asked. 

"Oh, I went to visit Nate in Africa!" Carter said, speaking of her her older brother, Nathaniel. Despite the fact that he was five years older than the rest of them, they all knew him well from the two years he had been at Hogwarts with him. "He's training dragons on his own now. It's totally groovy. He has a pretty bad burn on his arm from one of them though. The genius thought it would be useless to put on his protective gear to show his little sister the most gentle one."

"Ah, yes. We all know of Nate's usual assumption that he's actually invincible when he's showing off," Sirius remarked. He squirmed in his seat, trying to find a comfortable position before giving up and sprawling out across the bench, using Carter's lap as a pillow. He watched her, looking for a sign that she was about to smack him for laying in her lap. But it seemed she was either too invested in her conversation, or she genuinely didn't mind. Sirius watched her a moment longer before deciding that it was most likely the first of the two. 

"That we do. Remember when he tried to show us how great he was at hitting bludgers in his seventh year and got a broken nose?" Lia said, grinning at the memory. They had all found him incredibly cool when they were younger, watching in awe as he recklessly flew around on his broom. Especially Lia, who had developed a crush on him when she was fourteen. Though that dissipated quickly, when she tried to kiss him on one of her many stays at the Edevanes' home.

Carter glared at her, clearly not appreciative of all of them poking fun at her brother. "Anyways," she said loudly, steering the conversation away from stories of Nate making a fool of himself. "What did you do over the summer?" she asked, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. 

Lia's face lit up at the question, "Remus's mum and dad took me to Venice with them," she said, obviously still excited about how the trip went. Though that wasn't a surprise. Lia spoke excitedly of any time she spent away from her own family and with Remus's instead.

"I went too, but apparently my presence wasn't as memorable," Remus joked, elbowing Lia. She ignored him, launching into a story about their trip. Carter raised her eyebrows, patiently listening to the incredibly detailed recount of Lia and Remus eating gelato as they strolled across the Rialto Bridge.

"And your father was okay with that?" she questioned as she glanced down at Sirius. The two knew very well how strict Lia's father could be. Especially when it involved anything magical. And that included the Lupin family. The idea that Lia had left the country with them and with her father's permission was highly unlikely.

"He thought I was at St. Agatha's summer school. He gave me the tuition money and everything. Apparently it's necessary that I get a proper, normal education as well," she said, rolling her eyes at her father's view on how her life should go. "Though it wasn't hard at all to get out of. Didn't even bother to see me off at the airport, the git," she said, muttering the last part darkly, as she clearly still wasn't over her father's actions.

Knowing Lia could go on for quite a while, and not interested in hearing stories he already knew quite well, Remus cut in, "What did you do, Sirius?" 

"I had a pretty shitty summer. I'd rather not talk about it," he said quietly, avoiding eye contact with the three, who all looked at him with concern. He stared at the ceiling, purposely avoiding Carter's obvious gaze.

"Are you-" Carter began worriedly, only to be interrupted by James bursting through the door. 

"So, I saw Lily on the platform and she rejected me. Again! Can you believe that? You'd think that after five years you'd expect me to land at least one date!" he exclaimed, skipping over any formalities and completely unaware of the heavy atmosphere in the room. Still concerned about Sirius, it took them all a moment to realize that James had even spoken. Lia kept her eyes on Sirius for a moment, trying to decide if this was one of those things that she would bring up later on when the two were alone.

Carter was the first to recover and reply, "You're right, we didn't see that coming at all," she deadpanned, not even gracing him with eye contact as she played with Sirius's long, messy hair. 

"Thanks for the boost of confidence, Carter. I knew I could always count on you," James snapped back before turning to Sirius. "Plan on making some room for the rest of us any time soon, mate?" he quipped. Sirius sat up from his position begrudgingly, letting James sit down in a grumpy manner. He was obviously still stuck on whatever had transpired between he and Lily on the platform. He'd probably be replaying the conversation in his head for quite awhile, trying to find where he had once again gone wrong. Though it was surely better than him reciting the entire argument to them out loud. They could all do with missing a play by play of Lily and James's fights every now and then.

"Well, it sure is great to see all of you again," Remus announced sarcastically, cutting in before a real argument started. The door rolled open again, halting the conversation yet again for a moment as Peter lumbered in, looking terribly disheveled. Sweat stains graced the side of his grey uniform jumper, his blazer and robe tucked underneath one arm and a bag in his hand. 

"You'd think after that expensive watch I got you for Christmas you'd be on time for once," Lia remarked as he stuffed his bag in the luggage compartment. It took him more than a few moments, as he clumsily tried to force it to fit. 

Remus slid closer to Lia, squishing her against the wall, so that Peter could sit next to them comfortably. 

"It's a muggle watch, Lia. How do you expect me to work that thing?" he whined, awkwardly trying to put his blazer and robe on, elbowing Remus in the head in the process. Remus rubbed the side of his head, wincing and watching Peter out of the corner of his eye. Why is it that he could never remember to put that stuff on outside of their already cramped compartment?

Carter looked at the scene before her with disdain, "At least you aren't one to surprise us," she replied, earning a few laughs from the other four. Peter sighed miserably at their laughter, reluctant to be the cause of such amusement, as he usually was. He looked at the floor uncomfortably, waiting for the laughter to stop.

"Practice, Peter. Practice," Lia said, drawing everyone's attention to her as the laughs died away. "I spent forty pounds on that watch and you haven't used it once!" she admonished.

"Lia, I hope you know that no one in this compartment has any fucking idea how much forty pounds is," James snapped, taking his annoyance at Lily's rejection out on his friends once again. Carter sighed at him, far past finished with his pouting over a girl he'd asked out at least ninety-seven times since their fourth year. 

"I know how much it is," Remus supplied, not catching James's annoyance. James glared at him evenly. "Hey, it's not my fault you can't get into Lily's pants," he said defensively, shrugging his shoulders at James's menacing look. Lia let out a chuckle, quickly sobering up when James's glare turned towards her again. 

"Don't worry, mate," Sirius said consolingly, supportively clapping a hand on James's shoulder, "She'll come 'round one of these days." Carter and Lia both snorted at their unwavering confidence. 

Carter rolled her eyes. James would be better off giving up and snogging with a random girl from potions class. Considering he was quidditch captain, they all fawned over him anyways. Carter wasn't sure why he was always so fixated on Lily anyways. She was painfully uninterested. Before she could even open her mouth to voice these thoughts, Lia beat her to it.

"Some of us share a room with her and will definitely hear about this tonight. And we can guarantee she won't be implying that it may happen someday," Lia said, her eyes on Carter. Carter nodded in agreement, grinning at the comment. It seemed that she and Lia always had to deal with hearing detailed recounts of both sides of the story. They'd much rather unpack in the quiet than listen to Lily griping into the night. Though their fourth roommate, Gwen, always seemed anxious to hear any gossip Lily had to offer.

"You guys are just so supportive. It's inspiring," Remus commented, shaking his head at them.

Lia whirled around in her seat to face him. "Oi! The king of sarcasm today, aren't we?" she said, pinching his cheek as she looked at him teasingly. He gave her a goofy grin for a few moments, only to be distracted by the tiny owl flailing about the cage in Lia's lap. Lia reached her fingers inside the cage, stroking it on the top of the head.

"I see we still haven't upgraded to an actual owl yet," Sirius said, eyeing it with disgust. Lia had gotten the owl back in her first year, but it had hardly grown past the size of a baby. Though tiny, Atlas was incredibly serious about his job at delivering messages. Not that he even did much of that. The bird glared at Sirius, as if knowing that a snide remark had just been made about him.

"Don't fuck with Atlas, Sirius. You remember three years ago when he pecked your eye and you had to go to Madam Pomfrey and tell her you got injured because you insulted a bird," Lia retorted defensively, her eyes not leaving her disgruntled owl. Sirius put a hand over his heart in mock offense, scoffing loudly at the insinuation that that had ever happened.

"How dare you bring up such a troubling time for me?" he said in a mock hurt tone. 

"You guys weren't there to see the travesty," Remus added good naturedly. "He actually cried before he got it fixed," he said, biting back a laugh at the memory. After making a haughty remark about the bird's size and demeanor, Sirius had spent the next few minutes howling in pain and clutching his injured face as tears streamed down his face, while Atlas seemed to look as triumphant as a bird could.

The girls didn't even bother trying not to laugh hysterically the second the sentence left Remus's mouth. "That's a lie if I ever did hear one!" Sirius said in defense, making himself heard over their laughs. 

"Unless you were chopping an onion beforehand, those were definitely real tears," James added, laughing along, his mind finally off Lily. The rest doubled over in laughter, the mental image of Sirius crying over a bite given by what could possibly be the tiniest adult owl in existence was far too amusing to even try and stay quiet about. After all, if it had happened to one of the other's, Sirius would have never stopped talking about it.

Even he couldn't really be mad about all of them reminiscing to the time in their third year, recently after the girls had joined in on the marauder's close knit friendship. "My own best friend!" Sirius yelled. "How could you?"

Carter's laughs subsided immediately, clamping a hand over Sirius's still open mouth, "Oh, tone down the drama, Sensitive Sally, before the prefects get all over our asses," she said sternly, not removing her hand. Sirius glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, gauging her mood, before licking her hand in a juvenile manner, trying and succeeding to get her hand off of his face. She shrunk back, shrieking in disgust.

"Did you just lick me?" she inquired, half in disbelief, and half in horror. She wiped her saliva covered hand on his shirt, not even wanting his spit to touch her pleated skirt. 

"Now who's gonna get the prefects all over our asses?" Sirius replied smugly, a satisfied smirk on his face. 

"Trust me, Sirius, I have no interest in touching your ass," Remus retorted. 

-x-x-x-

"God, this takes so long. If it weren't for Lola, I would be ditching it completely," Lia said with a sigh as the group settled into the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Everyone surround them was getting ready for the sorting, some of them anxious to find out where the new students would end up, but more of them looked as if they would rather watch grass grow than listen to yet another sorting ceremony. And who wouldn't after five years of sorting ceremony after sorting ceremony? Amongst their group, only Remus watched the swarm of first years nervously. Particularly the young Lola Foxe, whose eyes were darting around the room in frightened curiosity.

"I mean this is the sixth time I've had to sit through this. Can't we just skip ahead and eat already?" she said, staring at the empty table in front of her. Next to her, Peter rubbed his belly, seeming to agree with every complaint that came out of Lia's mouth. 

"C'mon, Lia, you know the first years are always excited about this," Remus said from the seat on her other side, nudging her shoulder with his own. 

"But can't they be excited after the food," Carter whined, wiggling in her seat impatiently. Sirius shook his head at her, opening his mouth with a teasing remark ready, but he was cut off by the sound of Dumbledore clinking his glass.

The six of them barely paid any mind to his speech as the old and tattered hat was presented, marking the start of the sorting ceremony. Some of the students watched attentively throughout the entire thing, but the majority of them lost interest as the names were read out, followed by the booming voice of the sorting hat calling out houses. 

They soon got to the 'F's and the name Elodia Foxe was yelled out. All six of them looked towards Lia's younger sister with alarm and curiosity. Lia watched anxiously, torn between wanting Lola sorted into the same house, or in a different one. On one hand, if she ended up being a Gryffindor, Lia knew that she would have to deal with her trailing behind her in the common room, forcing Lia into the role of year-long babysitter that she so desperately wanted to avoid. Then again, if she was in a different house, she would hardly see her sister, and she wouldn't be able to protect her as she instinctively wanted to.

She watched attentively as her sister, who looked and acted much like a younger version of Lia, strode across the floor to sit down. The hat sat heavily on her head, slipping over her eyes. Her cheeks were visibly red in embarrassment, as she held the hat up so she could see. The hat took a moment before decidedly yelling out, "RAVENCLAW!" loud and clear. It took more than a moment for it to register in Lia's mind that the two of them would not, in fact, be in the same house. She glanced at the others, who were looking at her expectantly while Lola staggered to the Ravenclaw table, clearly alarmed that she would be without her older sister.

Remus looked at Lia, concern in his eyes, "You okay with that?" he asked, knowing how protective Lia could be over her sisters, as much as they did annoy her. After all, when she found out she was going to Hogwarts when she was ten, he recalled her excitement being weighed down at the thought of leaving her sisters alone.

Lia took a moment before answering, contemplating. She nodded slowly, still a bit torn on the situation. She turned in her seat to see her little sister surrounded by blue and silver-clad students. Tiny and timid, Lola stuck out like a sore thumb against the older students. 

"Should I talk to her or something?" Lia asked Remus quietly, trying to keep the others out of the conversation. She didn't want too much input, confusing whatever decision she arrived at even more. 

Remus watched Lola for a moment, her blue eyes wide and nervous, much how Lia had been her first year. "You should probably go talk to her," he murmured back. 

Lia sighed, "That's really not the answer I was looking for, Remus," she replied, turning back towards the table in front of her to wait through the rest of the sorting ceremony. Remus shrugged. The rest of the names were called in a blur, all of them uncaringly ignoring it. Eventually, Dumbledore was beginning his annual beginning of the year speech.

"I'd like to start off this year by welcoming our new first years. I do hope you will enjoy your time at this school. We're all looking forward to giving you a proper magical education provided by our professors. Speaking of, I'd also like to introduce our new divination teacher, Solomon Leander," Professor Dumbledore said, gesturing towards the only unfamiliar face amongst their teachers. 

"He is a hottie," Carter said quietly, ignoring Dumbledore's continuing speech. Lia turned to Carter, her attention also dropping away from their headmaster, unlike the other students surrounding them. 

She cocked her head to the side, squinting her eyes as she looked at their new professor, "Yeah, I suppose so," she decided, taking her best friend's side. Remus tried to ignore the two's chatter, attempting to keep his attention on the loud speech booming through the Great Hall. 

Sirius, however looked at them with wide eyes. "Honestly, how old is that man? Fifty?" he whispered with utmost disbelief. He was used to the two of them talking incessantly about various attractive classmates, but never a professor. 

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Sirius. He's, like, thirty-five. Tops," Carter replied, rolling her eyes at him. Sirius shook his head at her. The room filled with conversation as Dumbledore finished up his speech. Sirius dropped his argument with Carter, instead turning to the food that had magically appeared before them, shoveling large amounts of shepherd's pie onto his plate. 

"Well, you'll have to throw out any hope of being with him, anyways. Considering he's a teacher and all," James piped up, loading his plate with slices upon slices of turkey. Peter and Remus gave small words of agreement, before turning their attention towards filling their plates. Listening to the long winded speeches at the beginning of the year always left a gnawing hunger in all of their stomachs, despite having filled up on snacks on the train. The remainder of the meal was spent chatting animatedly about the new divination teacher, N.E.W.T. subjects, and on James and Carter's part, quidditch. 

"I hope we crush Slytherin this season," Carter said, taking a bite out of her gateau. Dessert had just popped up, and everyone was scrambling to grab what they wanted before it got passed to the other end of the table. "I don't think I can take another year of seeing that stupid smirk on Savina Ewing's face every time I pass her in the halls." James nodded in agreement, his mouth too full to speak. 

"Ah, I love quidditch," Sirius said with a sigh, earning a surprised look from both James and Carter, their eyebrows raised in question. James swallowed his mouthful of pie before speaking, "You've never seemed to care about it before," he replied.

"That was before I was given a free pass to the girls' locker room to check up on my dear Carter, " Sirius replied, looking at Carter with a teasing smirk. 

"You most certainly do not have a free pass!" she exclaimed, her cheeks turning a bit pinker than usual. She glared at him indignantly, daring him to challenge her on it. 

Sirius sighed dejectedly, "Sure, ruin the dream," he said, disappointed by her absolutely revolted reaction. 

"Guess it'll have to stay in your dreams," Remus cut in.

Lia rolled her eyes at their antics,"I, however, still have very little interest in quidditch," she said, examining her nails distractedly. "The only thing quidditch games are good for is giving Callaway Strauss and me a reason to snog behind the bleachers."

"So that's where you've been disappearing to when we're playing!" Carter exclaimed, her voice growing shrill. She had always noticed Lia at the beginning of the games, but somewhere throughout it, she always mysteriously disappeared. Even though Carter had brought it up multiple times, Lia always deflected the question.

"No need to raise our voice to octaves only certain animals can hear, Carter," Lia said, quirking an eyebrow. She didn't think Carter would actually be annoyed at her for skipping out on their games.

"Well, excuse me for expecting my best friend to watch me while I play my favorite sport," Carter retorted, sounding more angry than sad.

"Don't worry. Sirius will watch you get ready for your favorite sport, apparently," James mumbled, not intending for anyone to hear him. Though Remus, sitting across from him, cracked a grin at the remark. 

"Now, now. As much as I love to watch girls fight, we have a tower to get to, I believe," Sirius interjected quickly, before Lia could throw back another snide remark. They looked up from the table, no longer preoccupied by their own conversations and ignoring the glare Carter was still shooting Lia. It seemed that most of the other students had left the Great Hall quite a while before. Remus jumped to his feet, stumbling a bit as he rushed to get out of his chair, before running out of the room. 

"Where are you going?" Lia called after him, furrowing her brows at his frantic rush. She didn't see what the big deal was. They could always get the password from someone else. 

"Prefect duties!" Remus called over his shoulder as he tried to catch up with Augustina Caverly, who hadn't bothered to wait for him before escorting the first years to Gryffindor Tower. Remus tried not to groan in annoyance at her behavior as he chased after her. It seemed that she still wasn't over the rough break up they had had at the end of their fifth year. His friends laughed in amusement at him, standing from their seats and following him at a leisurely pace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> helloooo! we have been posting this fic on other sites for some time now and have decided to move it from ff.net to ao3. we hope you enjoy!! in order to catch up with the chapters already posted on hpff, we'll be posting around every other day. in the meantime, please check out our fic blog bitchingwitches.tumblr.com for pictures of our faceclaims, hints to the next chapter, and info about the story!!! see you next week!


	2. Gossamer Season

  
_"We were together. I forget the rest."_  
\- Walt Whitman

-x-x-x-

After a rather hectic arrival, the marauders, along with Carter and Lia, all sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast the following day. The evening before had been full of unpacking, and reuniting with fellow classmates, most of them catching up into the earliest hours of the morning. Though due to such a sleepless night, the majority of them sat at the table with drooping eyes and less enthusiastic conversations than usual. Food had long since appeared at the table, covering nearly every square inch of the glossy surface. The ceiling showed a dreary, cloudy sky, ensuring them all for a less than cheery first day of classes.

Carter took a large swig of pumpkin juice, her right elbow knocking into Lia's left as Lia ate from a stack of pancakes hungrily. Carter scooted a bit away from her, wondering why she never seemed to remember that Lia was left handed until they bumped elbows at meals. She made a mental note to sit on Lia's right from then on, as she had done so many times before. The post owls arrived suddenly, startling them and grabbing the attention away from their plates. They all waited patiently as owls swooped down in front of each of them, a brightly colored parcel or envelope tied to their legs, excluding Sirius and Lia.

"In the three years I have known you, you've not received a single letter," James mused thoughtfully, his gaze trained on Lia. "Doesn't your father ever write?" he continued, genuine curiosity filling his face as he unwrapped a parcel sent by his mum. It was just as it was every year, his mum sending him something on the first day. It wasn't uncommon among the parents of Hogwarts students to start off the school year by sending somewhat of a “good luck” gift to their children.

"No, he doesn't have much interest in keeping up with me during the school year," Lia replied casually, as if they were simply discussing the morning's charms class. She didn't even bother looking up from her plate as she spoke, showing more interest in her scrambled eggs than the conversation taking place.

Remus shot her a worried look that seemed to go unnoticed by all. She had spoken of her father and his distaste for Hogwarts before; but until now Remus was unaware that it was harrowing enough to the point of no communication while she was here. He watched her for a moment longer, before deciding that that was hardly a conversation to bring up now. Lia had a habit of getting short with him whenever he mentioned her well being or her father. They both seemed to be sore subjects for the girl.

Unlike Remus, Carter seemed unsurprised at Lia's offhanded response, simply looking at her friend out of the corner of her eye to assure herself that Lia was fine. James, however, didn't seem to want to let the subject drop, and continued on.

"Why is that?" he asked, scooping an unhealthy amount of scrambled eggs onto his plate. Carter stared at him in disgust as he began to pile bacon on top of them. They had already been eating for a while. How James seemed to put away so much food each day was beyond her. He didn't look up from his plate at Lia as he asked the question, missing the annoyed and somewhat pained look on her face. He seemed more interested in the nauseating amount of eggs he was consuming than in the fact that Lia was merely shrugging distractedly, avoiding both eye contact and the question.

Sirius stared at her in concern for a moment, his brow furrowed in worry. He turned to James in an attempt to divert his attention from Lia, who obviously did not care to talk about her father and his lack of letters.

"Lay off, Prongs. I haven't gotten a letter from home in two years. And before that they were usually howlers telling me to get the pictures of muggle girls off my walls," he said, earning smirks from the boys sitting around them. Peter looked from Sirius to James like he was watching a tennis match and couldn't decide who to root for.

"Still there, eh?" James remarked, amused, before feeling a sharp kick to his shin. "Ow!" he said dramatically, glaring daggers at Carter, who was staring at him with narrowed eyes from her seat across from him.

"I swear, there is not a pinch of respect for the female gender at this table," she quipped, shooting Sirius a look that could at least seriously maim, if not kill. Lia made an obligatory noise of agreement before catching Sirius's eye and offering a small smile of thanks. After all, she wasn't daft enough to miss him changing the subject for her. Sirius gave a short nod in response, winking at her.

"So, who's gonna let me borrow their charms essay so I don't go into class empty handed?" Sirius asked, mentally patting himself on the back for not only helping Lia, but also effectively cutting off any rant that may come from Carter if talk of the posters on his walls continued.

"Honestly, Sirius, you had the entire summer to get that done," Remus replied with a roll of his eyes as he watched Sirius glance around the rest of the group expectantly. He was used to his friend's antics and his lack of concern for school, of course, but that didn't mean he wanted to tolerate them.

"But I also had a whole summer to do fun things," Sirius argued, "and really, which is the better choice?"

Remus scoffed, "I don't know, perhaps getting the annoying task out of the way first, and then doing fun things?" he said, clearing his plate.

"Not all of us are blessed with such a knowledgeable noggin, Moony," Sirius replied teasingly. "So, is anyone going to let me borrow their homework, or not?"

He looked to Carter eagerly, knowing how good her grades tended to be when she actually bothered working. Though it was likely she, as usual, did not do her work.

His heart sunk in disappointment as he saw her shake her head. "Considering I didn't do it myself, I'd say you're out of luck, my friend," she said lazily, blowing off the assignment as if it had no effect on her at all.

Lia shook her head at the two in exasperation, "You two are one in the same," she remarked, cutting into the conversation. She may not have liked studying, but at least she bothered to try. The last thing she needed was bad grades to add to her father's distaste for the school.

"Wait, so did anyone actually do their homework?" James inquired, looking around at his friends, who, for the most part, stared back at him with blank faces for a moment.

A look of eager realization flashed across Peter's expression, "I did," he piped in, as if just remembering the charms essay he most likely threw together last minute.

Carter looked around the table, waiting for someone else to say theirs was done as well. Namely her dearest friend Lia. Lia, however, remained quiet. Carter sighed in defeat, "So we're all using Peter's then?" she asked. As much as she would rather not have four people hand in the same essay, it seemed they didn't have much of a choice. After all, they couldn't very well hand in nothing. Hopefully it wouldn't rouse any suspicion, but she seriously doubted it.

"I'm not sure that's going to work out," Lia interjected, "Not that I have anything to worry about, anyways. I wrote my essay."

Carter allowed a small moment of triumph. She knew Lia had to have done her work; as usual, Lia, Remus, and Peter were the only ones who did. It seemed that they would be copying from those three until graduation.

James shook his head at Lia's studious behavior. It was almost like he was disgusted at her lack of procrastination. Sirius just rolled his eyes, snatching the offered parchment out of Peter's hand, and using a spell to duplicate it thrice. He handed the original essay back to Peter, clapping him appreciatively on the shoulder. Peter grinned at Sirius, pleased with himself and how helpful he had the chance to be. He rarely had much to offer, but he did always seem to come through with schoolwork.

"Peter, you really shouldn't let them do that," Lia remarked, shooting a judgemental look towards her friends, as they all stood up from their seats. She had let them copy from her the previous years, but after the group being accused of cheating and receiving a failing grade towards the end of their fifth year, she was more stingy than ever.

Peter just shrugged his shoulders offhandedly. It hardly mattered to him either way. Though he did smile at her appreciatively in silent gratitude for standing up for him, as it was a rare occurrence in their circle of friends. They all weaved their way through students as they walked out of the great hall and towards their first classes of the day.

"Don't you think someone is going to notice that you four handed in the exact same essay?" Remus questioned as they neared the classroom, more amused than frustrated at his friends. Before anyone had a chance to protest, chatter from a group of passing Slytherins interrupted them.

"So happy to see the mudblood is back!" Severus Snape jeered sarcastically from alongside them, his eyes on Lia. Rather than taking offense, she just grinned back at him.

"Glad to be back, Severus," she called to him, waving animatedly. Remus, however, glared at him dangerously, barely noticing as Lia yanked him along by his forearm. She only paused to look at the others pointedly until they all stopped muttering under their breath while they stared at Snape and other laughing Slytherin students.

"Let me hex him, okay? Just this once," Remus said through gritted teeth, yanking his arm out of Lia's grasp.

"Let it go, all right?" Lia said, grabbing the sleeve of his robe in an attempt to drag them towards their class. She glanced behind them, watching to see if the others followed. She spotted James, Sirius, and Peter trailing behind reluctantly, but Carter looked to be missing from the group.

"Hey, where's Ca-" she began, stopping her question abruptly as she saw Carter just in time. She hurried towards her friend, just as she was lifting her wand.

"Carter!" Lia shrieked, rushing to wrestle the wand out of her hand. She grasped it firmly in her right hand, and grabbed Carter's arm with her left in an attempt to drag her away.

"Honestly, I don't know why you guys get so bothered about that," Lia muttered, stalking towards the classroom with Carter in tow, completely missing the annoyed look she was shooting the back of Lia’s head. She understood the meaning of the word, and how it was only used in a crude manner, but it would be far easier to leave it alone. There was little point in riling up the Slytherins. It was like asking for spells to go flying, only leading them all to detention, as it had before. And Lia couldn't really afford detention so early on in the year.

"Lia!" James hissed. "He called you a... Well, you know what," he said, defending their actions as he tried to keep Remus from running after Severus. Though he hardly approved of what Severus said, he didn't have time to be in a fight at the moment. After all, he had to get to class early if he wanted to snag a seat near enough to Lily Evans for the sole purpose of staring at her throughout class.

"He's got a point, Foxe," Sirius added, as they all piled into the classroom.

"He's been calling me a mudblood for six years now. How are we not past this?" she muttered, sliding into a seat next to Remus.

"They're just trying to defend you, Lia," Peter said, settling into the seat on her left. She just offered him a weak smile before pulling out her charms book and settling it on the table in front of her.

After handing in their essays, the group barely paid a bit of attention to the charm they were learning about, save for Lia and Remus. The latter of which spent the class dutifully taking notes that Lia planned on looking over later on. The rest of them gave lazy flicks of their wands occasionally, staring blankly ahead for the majority of their lesson,

"So, do you care to elaborate on why you had a shitty summer?" Carter murmured to Sirius while the others were busy laughing at Peter, who had managed to perform a bat-bogey hex on himself.

Sirius shrugged carelessly, "Family and I got into an argument. I left home. Not much to elaborate on," he said casually as he gave another half-hearted flick of his wand. He didn't need to look towards Carter to know there was a shocked and slightly appalled look on her face. The thought of not getting along with her family was somewhat foreign to her, as she was as close as ever with her father and her older brother. Though years of being friends with both Sirius and Lia taught her that not all families worked as well as hers did.

"You ran away from home?" she said disbelievingly, "Sirius, that's not just a casual thing kids do over the summer! Where are you staying? Do you have a place to sleep?" she rambled worriedly, going through the hundreds of concerns running rampant through her mind. Her string of questions continued until she noticed Sirius's muffled laughter, halting her abruptly.

She smacked him roughly on the shoulder, "It's not funny! Stop laughing!"

"It's nothing to fuss about either, Carter," Sirius assured her, "I was fine. I stayed at James's house," he added, hoping to quiet any of her paranoid worries.

The frustration on Carter's face melted away into concern, "Why did you run away?" she said, her voice soft and worried. She tried to school her features into a neutral expression, hoping they hadn't caught anyone else's attention with the whispered conversation. She mentally scolded herself for forgetting to speak quietly throughout it.

"Mum tried to pull all that pureblood rubbish on me again. She said she got tired of me talking about how all blood types are equal, and it turned into the argument to end all arguments, I guess."  
Carter could easily see past the unconcerned tone of his voice, but she was unsure as to whether pressing matters further would be a good idea or not. It all depended on Sirius's mood, really, and those weren't always easy to read. After a moment of staring at him, she decided to leave it for the time being. She didn't want him to yell at her for asking too much in the middle of the classroom.

"Are you okay?" she finally asked. Of course, all she got in response was that signature indifferent shrug. And really, she hadn't expected much more. After all, he was Sirius Black. He couldn't be bothered by emotions or life changing things like leaving his family. Carter just sighed, turning back to the wand movements in her book.

-x-x-x-

After two classes, they all finally had a break. Thankfully, despite their clashing class schedules, they had all managed to score a free period together on Mondays. They sat scattered around the edge of the lake, the majority of them studying various text books, trying to keep up with their N.E.W.T. classes. Remus and Lia, on the other hand, had nothing to worry about.

Lia sat slumped against Remus's shoulder, gazing blankly at the sky, playing absentmindedly with the sleeve of his robe as he lost himself in a copy of Great Expectations. The book was supplied by none other than the girl leaning against him, as she had a habit of giving them all muggle books, clothes and music. Remus had gotten Great Expectations and countless others for his last birthday, and he was still working his way through them. 

Sirius stared at a page in his transfiguration book with an unusual amount of concentration. He flicked his wand, frustrated at the absolute nothingness that was happening. He groaned loudly, trying to make his annoyance known to everyone within earshot.

"If I can't conjure a hat by the end of this week, McGonagall is going to kill me," he remarked, looking as discouraged as ever.

"If you would just study, and actually do your summer work, this wouldn't be happening," Remus chirped from behind his book, his eyes never leaving the page before him.

Sirius stared at him with obvious annoyance, "Didn't we have this conversation at breakfast? I feel like this has happened before. You wouldn't want to set a nagging record, Remus."

Remus rolled his eyes at him, returning to the novel in his hands. Though concentrating on it was proving difficult with Lia leaning against him like she was. And it hardly helped that her hair was tickling his neck every time she moved an inch. Especially since the strong scent of apples it was giving off was both intoxicating and distracting.

"Lia, your hair," he said squirming. His words drew her attention away from the clouds, and she looked at him in confusion. She fingered a curl, staring at it as if that would tell her what he was talking about.

"It's tickling me," he explained. She let out an amused giggle before moving away from him, inching closer to James, and leaving Remus with a cold, empty spot where she had been before.

They all sat in silence for a moment before Lia grew fed up with it. "It's the first day of school, and I'm already bored," she confessed loudly, throwing herself back into the soft grass for dramatic effect. She folded her hands on her stomach, her open robes splayed out on either side of her.

Carter glanced up from her potions textbook to Lia, "Fag?" she offered, already digging through her robes to find the package of Marlboros and her disposable lighter. Lia sat up quickly, suddenly alert as she nodded, and rearranged her skirt over her thighs. She scooted closer to Carter, taking the offered cigarette and leaning closer so Carter could light it for her.

Remus watched as Lia took a long drag, "I swear, you lot are going to get us detention before lunch on the first day," he said absentmindedly, shaking his head at their behavior.

"Still not beating Sirius and James's record," Carter remarked, blowing smoke out through pursed lips, her cigarette perched elegantly between two fingers. Sirius watched her for a moment before lunging towards her, snatching the pack from where it sat on her lap while she was somewhat distracted. He smirked at her as he hurried out of her reach.

"Hey!" Carter exclaimed, grabbing for Sirius's wrist in an attempt to stop him. “Hands off, you sodding git. Those are mine!"

"Didn't you learn to share over the summer?" Sirius whined, already placing a cigarette delicately between his lips and tossing the pack to James. Carter sighed, giving in and tossing the lighter at Sirius with more force than he expected. He flung his arms up to catch it, failing horribly as it hit him on the bridge of his nose.

“Looks like we’ve got an expert seeker on our hands,” she said with a smirk, Sirius only narrowing his eyes at her.

"Can I have one?" Peter cut in, his voice somewhat meek as he watched Carter with a worried expression. Carter raised her eyebrows, staring at him critically. He looked as if he was almost afraid she would say yes.

"Since when do you smoke?" she inquired, leveling him with a steely gaze.

Peter shrunk back immediately, "Nevermind," he said quietly. Despite the two having hung out together with the same people since their third year, Carter and Peter hardly considered themselves friends with one another. He found her far too bossy and particularly intimidating, not that he would tell her such. No, he would rather stay quiet and follow whatever James and Sirius did. Though, he did always seem to shy away from smoking, despite the influence the others had on him.

"It's okay, Peter," Lia began, giving him a reassuring look, "Remus doesn't smoke either," she reminded him. Remus scoffed loudly at hearing this, setting his book down on his lap.

"Of course I don't smoke. Those can't be healthy for you! You're inhaling that into your lungs. They're bloody disgusting things," he said. "They'll kill you one of these days. Peter's right to not join in," he added.

He had held this view for years, adamant that breathing in the smoke was nothing other than toxic, and would kill them. And who would want to die young? Especially from something as avoidable as a cigarette. As usual they all rolled their eyes in response, not believing a word he said.

Peter, however, nodded slightly in agreement, reluctant to side with Remus over the others. Though his reason for staying away from them was more because he hated the taste than it was them maybe being bad for him. After all, a lot of things were bad for them, and they did them anyways.

Sirius shot an exasperated look at Peter, not forgetting his halfhearted attempt to blend in, "Well, there's no reason to pretend, is there? If you don't smoke, don't ask for a cigarette," Sirius remarked, incredibly annoyed with Peter already.

"Leave it, Sirius," Lia ordered sternly, sounding like a mother who had just caught her child with his hand in the cookie jar. Sirius put up his hands in mock surrender, unwilling to fight with Lia about it. She had a habit of somehow talking him out of his original opinion and coming out triumphant.

"I hope you never use that face for evil, Lia," James said, glancing back and forth between the pair.

"Yes, because Lia's face is a lethal weapon," Carter cut in sarcastically, shaking her head at all of them.

"Well, considering she can use it to manipulate half the school..." Remus trailed off. Lia's mouth dropped open in disbelief as she stared at them all, appalled. Remus laughed lightly at the look on her face, unable to hide his amusement.

"Excuse me!" Lia said haughtily. "I only use my powers for good," she claimed defensively.

"And by that you mean for your own gain," James quipped through a puff of smoke. Suddenly his easy expression turned into one of horror. His eyes widened at the sight of a hunch backed figure hobbling towards them.

"Filch," he warned quickly, shoving his cigarette into the ground, effectively putting it out. The others followed suit, looking suspiciously innocent by the time Filch made his way over to them. A practiced routine, of course.

"I believe you have a class to attend," Filch snapped rather menacingly, staring at them all with a single eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Free period," Lia supplied, flashing him a rather wide and innocent grin.

"See? Evil," James whispered under his breath to Sirius, who snickered in turn, trying to keep his face blank.

"Well, the period's just ended," Filch said. "Now get to class," he ordered, stretching his words and speaking so slowly and and intimidatingly that they didn't dare press the issue any further.

-x-x-x-

"Hammet! Sit up straight or I'll take house points," McGonagall threatened, striding inside the classroom with robes billowing out behind her. She appeared to be extra hostile today, much to everyone's immediate dismay. Despite being head of the house, she still wasn't very friendly towards her fellow Gryffindors. Which unsurprisingly lead to Gwendolyn Hammet sitting perfectly still in her seat next to Lily Evans, shoulders squared and back straight, too afraid to defy McGonagall.

Not that many blamed her. Nearly everyone stared straight ahead, keeping quiet and attentive for the majority of them feared McGonagall might really take house points away. The last thing any of them wanted to be responsible for is putting their house into the negatives within the first day.

"Today we will be working on trans-species transformations," McGonagall announced, her face as stern as her voice. "If you would all partner up, please," she instructed. There was a bit of shuffling as students fought to get partnered up with their preferred classmate. Before Carter could even blink, Sirius stood next to James, and Lia next to Remus, leaving Carter with Peter, much to her shock and disappointment.

"Lia!" she hissed angrily, green eyes flashing with frustration at the idea of being partnered with Peter.

"Sorry, Carter. We both know who the better wizard is here, and I can't risk bad marks again this early in the year," Lia said in a regretful tone, looking sympathetic. That was hardly enough. Carter made a rude gesture with her hand and walked somewhat dejectedly towards where Peter stood, leaving Lia to stick her tongue out at Carter's retreating figure.

"Mature," Remus whispered, smirking at her. Lia opened her mouth to reply, only to be cut off by her professor.

"We will be using human to rabbit, so please say the spell accordingly," McGonagall ordered, her voice booming through the room and drowning out the chatter. The partners looked at one another, nervous about turning their friends into the wrong animals, or perhaps even only turning parts of them into rabbits and leaving the rest of them human. The room filled with noise as the students carefully and loudly recited the necessary spell.

"Lia, stand still. I don't want to turn you into a rat," Remus said, exasperated. Lia ignored him, her attention focused on flirting with a Ravenclaw two seats in front of them. As he watched them, Remus shook his head, the poor bloke obviously thinking he might get somewhere with her. After a whole minute of waiting, he decided to poke her in the shoulder with the tip of his wand, earning a glare from her. She turned around and stood still, an annoyed look still in place on her face.

He recited the incantation very carefully, moving his wand in the memorized motions. Far sooner than he had expected, a small white rabbit stood where Lia once did. He couldn't help the triumphant smile that spread across his face.

"Very good. Ten points to Gryffindor," McGonagall said upon seeing his success. The next hour was filled with students reciting spells and various colored rabbits hopping about. Unfortunately, some students weren't quite so successful.

James, for instance, hand managed to turn Sirius into a rabbit with human ears, leaving Professor McGonagall to scowl in their direction as she passed by.

-x-x-x-

"The first transfiguration lesson and I've already screwed something up," James muttered to himself in the common room later that night. He had never ended up being able to turn Sirius into a rabbit, and had only managed to turn him back just before class had ended. Sirius hadn't even had a chance to try his hand at the spell. Which was probably just as well, since he hadn't even read it over yet.

"Cheer up, Prongs. At least you're not spending Saturday night with McGonagall like Sirius here is," Remus said, his tone overly cheery with optimism.

"No need to sound so happy about it, Moony," Sirius groaned, his mind going to the reason he had earned detention in the first place. The others knew he had received the detention, but Sirius refused to tell them why. There were just some things that no one needed to know.

"I think you can survive one weekend without shagging random birds," Carter remarked, smirking in his direction from the couch across from him. Sirius just groaned louder at the thought of his usual Saturday night plans being ruined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiii don't forget to follow our fic blog: bitchingwitches.tumblr.com


	3. Azure Skies (And Jumpers Too!)

  
_"She lifted her eyes. Blank, lovely eyes. Mad eyes. A mad girl."_  
\- Jean Rhys

-x-x-x-

"Lia!" James shouted as he thumped down the stairs towards the common room. His angry voice echoed through the area, causing several students to jump in alarm. He stormed in, towards where Carter and Lia sat waiting for him expectantly. Carter was glaring at him, his interruption completely unwelcome. She had been attempting to sketch a hippogriff in her sketchbook, and judging by the heavy pencil mark streaked through the drawing, James's yell had startled her more than she'd like to admit.

Lia calmly watched James walk towards them, almost enjoying the angry look in his clear blue eyes. 

"Where is my blue jumper? I know you took it!" he said upon approaching them. 

Lia simply raised her eyebrows. "I have no clue what you're talking about," she replied innocently, closing the Vogue magazine that sat in her lap.

"Oh, come off it, Foxe. I know you took it," he said, his eyes narrowing. 

Lia gave him a reprimanding look. "You can't blame me every time you lose something, James," she said condescendingly. She shot an amused look at Carter, who had replaced her glare at James for a grin at Lia. 

"Where's the jumper, Lia?" James demanded, his patience growing even thinner.

She shrugged, "You're asking the wrong person."

Before James could say anything else, Remus, Sirius, and Peter all padded into the common room. Sirius and Peter had bored looks on their faces, while Remus looked mildly amused. Lia's kleptomaniac ways were not unknown to any of them, and they had only been waiting for James's things to start disappearing this year. Lia, for whatever reason, seemed to gravitate towards swiping his things more than anyone else's. Perhaps it was because he had the tendency to give her the reaction she wanted.

"We heard yelling," Sirius announced. "Did Lia steal something again?" 

Lia stared at Sirius, mouth agape and eyes widened in shock. "Why do you always assume I did something?" she asked, offended. "Honestly, Sirius. Maybe it was Carter," she supplied. Carter snorted disbelievingly in response. As if she had any interest in stealing James's things. 

"Wow, Carter. Thanks for the support. Really, I appreciate it," Lia grumbled, her voice rich with sarcasm. 

"I still haven't gotten my answer," Sirius reminded them impatiently. He fell into the seat next to Lia, looking at her imploringly. Remus and Peter both followed suit, taking seats nearby. James still stood, fuming. 

"She took his jumper," Carter responded easily, her attention back on her drawing.

"Innocent until proven guilty," Lia cut in.

"Lia, we all know you aren't innocent," Remus said, smirking from where he sat on the couch across from her. 

"Even you betray me," Lia said, narrowing her eyes at him. 

"Isn't that a blue jumper tied around your waist?" Peter asked suspiciously. He pointed to the garment hanging loosely from her hips. 

James's eyes widened at the sight of it. "I knew it!" he yelled. "Give it to me right now, woman," he demanded, walking over to her. He tugged on the sleeve of the jumper, undoing the loose knot that kept it in place. Lia clutched it protectively.

"I'm not sure you realize how soft this sweater is, James. I need it because I don't have any," Lia said, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout and shooting him her best puppy dog eyes. She grabbed the sleeve from him and tied the knot more firmly.

"Yeah, I really don't care," James informed her. "Give it to me," he said, grabbing at the sleeve again. 

She shoved his hand away, "Fine," she replied with a sigh in defeat. She took the sweater off and threw it at him, hitting him in the face in a final act of vengeance. James fumbled for the sweater in his surprise. Carter rolled her eyes at their interaction. Honestly, sometimes the lot of them could be so incredibly immature. 

"I'm heading to the showers," Lia announced, standing up. She looked behind her at Carter, who was already shutting her sketchbook and standing with her. 

"And you're going with her?" Sirius asked, a single eyebrow raised in question.

"Yes?" Carter responded, her statement coming out as a question in her confusion.

"Why is it that girls always go to the bathroom in pairs?" he continued.

"Don't worry, Sirius. I'm sure you won't miss me too much," she assured him. She followed Lia up the stairs towards their room to retrieve their towels and things before they made their way to the bathrooms.

The girls walked together through the darkened halls, most of of the students heading back to their common rooms. The two preferred late night showers, when less people were around. They were hardly worried about being out past curfew; it wouldn't be their first time sneaking around. 

"I can't believe him. Can you believe him? Ridiculous!" Lia ranted, crossing her arms across her chest. 

"Well, it is, technically speaking, his," Carter reasoned, albeit still smiling at her friend. She was nothing if not amused at Lia's constant habit of stealing from James, Remus, and occasionally even Sirius. She had a knack for stealing from all of them, really, and then always denying it. 

"You'd think after the broom situation, a sweater would mean nothing to him," Lia muttered. She was speaking of the time James had thought he had lost his broom for a week before discovering it had been in Lia's trunk the entire time. No one knew the reason behind her thievery at the time, though she had admitted later on that she was angry at James for copying her potions essay without permission. Of course, she would have likely let him copy it if he had asked, but really, it was the principle of the matter. 

"Give the guy a break," Carter told her. "You know Lily rejected him again at breakfast this morning? Dumped a glass of pumpkin juice on him and everything," she said with a sigh, feeling sorry for her friend. 

"He's been trying really hard to mature this year, too, and it doesn't seem to be convincing her any further," Carter continued. "I wish she'd give him a chance already."

"When did this go down, and how did I not see it happen?" Lia asked, her voice borderline frantic. 

"You were buried in some dumb muggle gossip magazine," Carter answered. The halls were mostly empty by then, and they were lowering their voices significantly. No point in drawing attention to themselves and alerting any teachers nearby that they were both still up and around.

"Please do not insult Elle," Lia interrupted, holding her index finger up in warning. Carter rolled her eyes at Lia's defensive correction. 

"Okay. You were buried in Elle. Happy?"

"Yes. Now continue," Lia demanded. "What did she say? What did he say?" Lia asked, having always been interested in the ups and downs of James and Lily's relationship. She quite enjoyed the constant drama between the two. Carter blamed her behavior on Lia's withdrawal from romance films during the school year. She supposed she had to get entertainment from somewhere. 

"He only asked her to walk to potions class with him," Carter said.

"For James that's almost cute," Lia admitted begrudgingly. 

"I think he called her Evans again, and that's what really set her off. She really can't stand that," Carter responded.

"Oh, bad move," Lia said, pushing open the door to the girls' bathroom, "but that's still hardly a reason to dump pumpkin juice all over the poor lad."

Carter opened her mouth to reply, but was quickly halted by Lia's urgent shushing. A male voice could be heard from inside the bathroom, despite the fact that they could have sworn they were the only two inside.

Lia, forever the nosier of the two, decided impulsively to take action and investigate further. She grabbed Carter by the hand and tugged her into a nearby bathroom stall. 

She pressed her finger to her lips once more, motioning for Carter to keep quiet. Carter was tempted to walk out of the stall and see who was there for herself, but then again, she might learn something useful by eavesdropping. Both she and Lia strained their ears to listen, staying as quiet as possible. 

"Have you got the book I asked for?" the male voice asked, his voice deep and demanding.

"Yes, but it was in the restricted section. I believe, perhaps, Professor Slughorn is beginning to think I'm up to something," a girl responded, sounding more bored about the idea of getting caught than worried. 

"Don't worry about Slughorn," the man said impatiently. "I need this book to locate it," he added. 

"Are you sure this will have the answer?" the girl questioned, sounding nervous at his growing anger.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now go put it where we agreed," the man answered, obviously annoyed with the girl.

Sure that the conversation was over, Lia quickly pushed Carter up onto the seat of the toilet, effectively hiding their feet from whomever they were spying on. When the footsteps got nearer, Lia peaked from the top of the stall, only to find a young girl walking towards the door.

Lia furrowed her brow in confusion as the girl snapped what appeared to be a compact mirror shut and put it in her pocket. She squinted, hoping she would miraculously recognize the girl from behind, but it was useless. The unidentifiable girl hurried out of the bathroom, never turning so Lia could see her face. She let the door slam behind her, the sound reverberating through the room. 

Still confused, Lia stepped down from the edge of the toilet and turned to Carter, "There was only one person in here."

"What do you mean?" Carter asked, stepping down beside her. "There were two people talking." She unlocked the stall door, stepping back into the large bathroom. 

"Yeah, but when I looked out, there was just a girl," she replied.

"What did she look like?" Carter asked, making her way towards the shower stalls. 

"I don't know. I never saw her face," Lia muttered, losing herself in her suspicious thoughts. The two girls returned to their previous task and stepped into the showers, both of their heads filled with unanswered questions about what they had just eavesdropped on.

-x-x-x-

"Wait, there was only one person in the bathroom?" Remus asked later in the common room. The girls had returned from their showers, anxious to tell the marauders what they had witnessed. Thankfully, all four of them were still awake.

"I'm telling you, Remus. There was only one person. I'm not blind, I would have seen another," Lia answered for what felt like the twentieth time. She and Carter had repeated the entire conversation that had taken place between the mystery couple. Thanks to Carter's excellent memory, they had been able to recite it word for word. 

"Okay, there are ways that people can talk without being face to face. Let's not forget that," Sirius reminded them all, thinking of his and James's own mirrors. 

"What's more important is the book that whoever she is got from the restricted section. A teacher has to sign for that," Peter said. 

"Yeah, she said Slughorn signed for her," Carter repeated. She shook her head at them. Had they even bothered to pay attention the first time they had told the story?

"Of course it was Slug," Sirius said, his face screwed up in disdain, "I'll bet it was one of the kids in that stupid little club of his."

Carter nodded in agreement. "It wouldn't surprise me. Those kids can get away with anything just because they're in the 'Slug Club'," Carter muttered, adding air quotes to the end of her statement. The Slug Club was almost as annoying as Severus Snape, who was about as aggravating as anyone could be. 

"I don't even understand what he sees in 'em. They're all so arrogant; it's incredibly annoying," Sirius complained, losing sight of the original subject as usual.

"You've got it wrong," Lia informed him. "James is arrogant. They just know they're good at what they're doing," she said, defending the club. 

James sat up straight, leaning around Carter, who was seated next to him, to stare at Lia incredulously. "First you steal my stuff, then you insult me. I'm not sure I like where this friendship is headed, Foxe," he said, glaring at her from a rather awkward angle. Lia rolled her eyes, still slumped back into the couch. Carter, however, glared back at James, shoving him into his seat. 

"There is someone sitting here, you know," she said, clearly annoyed with his overdramatic antics. 

"Well," Remus said, returning to the original subject, "I'm not too concerned. For all we know, it could have been her secret boyfriend or something. Let's get some sleep. It's past midnight."

"You mean we're just gonna drop it?" Carter asked, appalled at the idea of letting the suspicious conversation go. 

"It's not like we have much to go on here, babe," Sirius replied lazily. It was unsurprising that he was so lax about the subject. It didn't involve him, so he hardly cared. Carter glared at him for both his statement, and the use of the pet name. 

"I'm gonna have to side with Carter on this, guys. It was really weird," Lia interrupted. "She acted like she was nervous talking to him. I don't usually sound nervous talking to my boyfriends," she said. She was partly defending her friend, but mostly still a bit uncomfortable with what they had witnessed in the bathroom.

"Whatever it was will have to be laid to rest for now. We don't have enough evidence to make accusations. Or any evidence, really," James said.

"Yeah, we don't even know what she looks like," Peter pointed out.

"Fine!" Carter said rather abruptly, crossing her arms and standing up. "I'm going to bed." 

The others followed suit, although unwary of what had caused her sudden outburst. Sirius stepped towards Carter, who was making no move to go to her room.

He nudged her side gently, standing behind her. "Don't get yourself worked up about it, okay?" he said quietly before following the rest of the boys up the stairs.

-x-x-x-

The library was typically empty Saturday mornings, as most students avoided homework until later in the weekend. However, inside sat Remus and Lia, who were both huddled over charms textbooks.

"I'm telling you, Lia. If you would just pronounce the 'O', we wouldn't have a problem," Remus said, looking patiently at the frustrated girl who sat next to him. 

"I am saying the 'O', Remus," Lia replied, annoyed at his incessant and repetitive instructing. 

Remus rolled his eyes, not wanting to help any further. Lia was probably the most frustrating person to tutor, as she was equal parts stubborn and impatient. He trudged on reluctantly because of the promise he had made to help her study for her charms class. Unfortunately, they had been working on the same spell for over an hour, leaving both parties irritated with each other. 

In an attempt to prove Remus wrong, Lia raised her wand and said, "Engorgio!" Much to her dismay, the quill sitting in front of her did not get any bigger.

"You aren't saying it right," Remus informed her, burying his face in his hands. 

"How am I supposed to do nonverbal spells if I can't even get this right?" Lia moaned. She pushed the quill aside and slumped into her chair. Remus sat up straight, looking over at her sad expression, and feeling a bit sorry for her. 

Lia had never been particularly good at spells. She'd had a habit of mispronouncing them since her first year, and despite how often she studied, it seemed impossible for her to bring her grades up past a C. 

"It's okay. We'll try again. You've just gotta practice," he said quietly, moving the quill so it was in front of her again. She smiled weakly, thankful he was still willing to work with her.

"Now," he began seriously, grabbing her hand for dramatic effect. "I know you can do this. I believe in you."

Lia giggled and tugged her hand away, smacking him on the shoulder. "How am I supposed to pronounce it correctly when you say stupid stuff like that?" she asked, trying to stifle her laughter by putting a hand over her mouth. The last thing they needed was Madam Pince kicking them out, which had happened plenty of times before. The woman was insufferable. 

Remus quirked a smile, happy to see her cheered up. Suddenly he had an idea, "Try again, but try it as a nonverbal spell," he suggested quietly, bumping her shoulder with his own. She stared at him in disbelief. How on earth did he expect her to do a nonverbal spell that she couldn't even do verbally? He nodded in encouragement, ignoring her look. 

Lia sighed, but turned her attention towards the quill. She moved her wand in the memorized motion, staring at the quill in concentration. Much to both their surprise, after a few moments, the quill grew twice it's original size. Lia shouted out in delight, only to be angrily hushed by Madam Pince. 

Lia ignored her completely, and threw her arms around Remus in a hug. She pecked him on the cheek, still grinning in excitement. 

"Onward to the next spell," she said, absolutely elated. She flipped to the next page in her textbook and chewed on her lower lip in concentration as she read. Remus grinned at her as he watched, unable to hold it back. 

Before Lia could even try the next spell, however, Carter approached them. She flung her book on the table in front of them, skipping any pleasantries in her annoyance. 

"I don't see why you're so angry," Sirius whispered, walking up behind her. He had a smug smile on his face, looking rather pleased with himself. Lia exchanged a glance with Remus, both of them knowing this could only mean trouble.

"Oh, you know very well why I'm angry, Sirius," Carter exclaimed in a whispered yell. "I don't see why you think it's okay to smack my bum while I'm climbing through the portrait hole!"

Sirius's grin didn't falter. He had really only done it to annoy her. That, and her bum looked quite nice in the black leather pants she was wearing. "It's not that big of a deal, babe," Sirius said just as James approached them. 

"It's sexual harassment, it is. And stop calling me babe," Carter said severely. She viciously yanked out the chair across from Lia, almost knocking it over in her anger.   
Sirius shrugged his shoulders. Really, she was overreacting. He slid into the seat next to her.

James took the free seat by Remus, "Don't want to get too close to the line of fire," he muttered as he dropped his own book on the table. Remus and Lia laughed quietly at his remark and the serious look on his face. The two bickering teenagers looked up at their laughs. 

"Oh, don't mind us," Lia said, a ghost of a smile on her lips. "We just like to watch." The corner of her mouth twitched as Carter's eyes narrowed in a glare. 

"So!" James said loudly, attempting to relieve the tension. 

"Do not make me remove you from this library, Mr. Potter," Madam Pince interrupted from nearby, looking thoroughly annoyed at the group of students. 

James raised his eyebrows at her. Why had she even taken the job as librarian if she hated teenagers so much? It was a mystery to him.

"What are we studying?" he asked, his voice much quieter.  

"I was just working on some charms with Lia," Remus answered, gesturing towards the quill that now sat forgotten at the other end of the table. He looked around the room curiously, "Anyone seen Peter?" 

He received only shrugs in response, none of them aware of where their friend had run off to.

"Actually, now that I think about it, he was still asleep in our room when I left," James spoke up. He looked at Sirius immediately, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Sirius caught on quickly, "I know that look. It's your let's-cause-people-pain-or-embarrassment-look." James winked at him in response. 

"No, no, no! We are not pulling a prank on Peter!" Lia said, trying to squelch the idea before her friends got in too deep. Unfortunately, it was already too late. Sirius and James were effectively ignoring her, and making plans across the table. She groaned both in defeat and annoyance. After a few moments of discussion, their plan was in place. 

"Why don't we just leave the poor bloke alone?" Remus said absentmindedly, focusing more on his textbook than whatever his friends were plotting.

"Way to really try and help, Remus," Lia muttered sarcastically.

"Lighten up, Lia, dear," James said offhandedly. She rolled her eyes. 

"He's supposed to be our friend. I swear, he's more of a punching bag than anything to you two."

"We don't actually hurt him. Not really, anyways," Sirius replied, annoyed at her constant reprimanding. There were a few moments of silence where Lia and Sirius glared at one another before Carter stood up.

"Let's get on with it, shall we?" she chirped, clapping her hands together. Madam Pince glared at her severely, but it was ignored. Lia, however, looked shocked. 

"What?" Carter asked in response to the look on her face. Lia simply groaned again in exhaustion, slumping back into her seat for what felt like the hundreth time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please remember to check our fic blog! bitchingwitches.tumblr.com


	4. Half-Baked

  
_"Either be groovy or leave, man."_  
\- Bob Dylan

-x-x-x-

"I can't believe you guys!" Peter shouted at them, his voice echoing in the evening air. He jogged to keep up with the others, who were walking at a rather brisk pace. It was a partly cloudy Saturday evening, the sun just setting, and the six of them planned on spending it lakeside after dinner. 

James turned around with a grin on his face. "You have to give us some credit for managing to pull it off with only two bottles of butterbeer and Lia's self-stirring teacup," he said good naturedly. He was honestly proud of the prank they pulled off, even if Peter was still mad about it hours later. He'd get over it soon enough, as he always did. 

"I still regret letting you lot borrow that," Lia muttered under her breath, unsure as to how she had allowed herself to be manipulated into that. She was the manipulator, after all. Frankly, it was an embarrassment falling for her own tricks. She turned around and mouthed an apology to Peter, wincing as she did so. 

"Maybe that'll teach ya not to sleep in so late," Sirius remarked, plopping down in their usual spot under the shade of a large oak tree. 

"You could have just woken me up normally," Peter exclaimed, red in the face and still annoyed at them. He took a seat on the ground, choosing a spot near Lia, and away from both James and Sirius. 

"Peter, what kind of wizards would we be if we didn't use magic in every way possible?" James asked rhetorically, as if this explanation was of more use to Peter than an apology ever would be. 

"And remember, early dugbog gets the mandrake!" Sirius reminded him in a sing-song voice, leaning against the tree trunk behind him. "'Sides, there's no reason for you to still be mad. It happened seven hours ago, for Merlin's sake." 

Peter rolled his eyes at the popular wizard saying that he had been hearing from his mum for years. But, nonetheless, he allowed the subject to drift away as the group began talking about other things. They all sat in a poorly formed circle, save for Lia, who had made herself comfortable by lying across Remus's lap.

"Am I nothing but a couch to you?" Remus asked with a laugh as she situated herself.

Lia grinned at him in response. "The ground is wet," she said with a confidence, as if it made all the sense in the world for half of her to get wet as long as the other half stayed dry. 

"So that's a yes," he murmured, looking down at her. The setting sun was reflecting off the golden tones of her hair, which was splayed haphazardly against him. Her eyes were trained on Sirius, who had gone into some sort of detailed story that Remus had absolutely no interest in. He was far too invested in the girl in his lap, who hadn't been paying him any attention for quite a while now. 

Suddenly he was startled out of his daydream by Carter, who was snapping her fingers in front of his nose. "Remus. Remus!" she called, causing him to look up at her. "Merlin's pants, what is going on in that head of yours?" 

He shrugged his shoulders innocently, making a point to keep his eyes off Lia. "Anyway, I was asking you if you knew why Sirius had detention. He won't tell any of us," Carter continued, ignoring his temporary trance. Remus shrugged his shoulders again, gesturing that he had not been informed like the rest of them. 

"I was under the impression that McGonagall caught him and Elisa Maddox in a broom closet together," James supplied loudly, shooting Sirius a sly smile. Sirius returned the smile, raising his eyebrows in both a charming and arrogant manner, something only he could achieve. 

"I don't kiss and tell," he replied, crossing his arms comfortably behind his head.

"Then how did James know?" Lia asked curiously.

"He's my best mate, Foxe. You and Carter tell each other all your girly secrets," Sirius answered simply, pausing for a moment before giving James an accusatory look. "Although I can't say I expected him to share said secrets."

"Oh, pish posh," James replied with a wave of his hand, "We all know you're just dreadful at keeping secrets, Sirius. That is my dear friend Peter's strong suit." Peter grinned at James, puffing his chest out a little on the rare occasion of James complimenting him.

"I don't know, Sirius. I'd say you keep important secrets well enough," Remus cut in, his eyes darting to Lia again as she played with the sleeve of his jacket. 

Sirius winked at him, "Important secrets. I'm good at those."

Carter watched the exchange between the two with a look of befuddlement on her face, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why do I feel like I'm on the outside of some massive inside joke sometimes?" she asked them. 

Lia sat up abruptly at Carter's statement, joining in on the conversation. "Yeah, I get that vibe, too, and it's only from you four," she said, narrowing her eyes at James in particular.

"Me?!" he asked in disbelief, pointing at himself. "Why is it always me?!"

"I think you know why, James," Lia said dramatically, looking at him with disdain in her eyes. 

"For fuck's sake, is this about the jumper again?" Sirius cut in between them before an actual fight could occur. Lia had a habit of starting useless arguments with them, James in particular, just to screw around. And when it was James and Lia, it was best to kill it early on, before their sibling-like spat grew into something more. 

"Perhaps," Lia continued, shifting her gaze from Sirius back to James, "perhaps not."

Carter shook her head at them, "Okay, back to the real point," she said. "Are you ever going to let us in on this whole thing?" she inquired, looking at James imploringly and ignoring the clear confusion on his face due to what Lia had said. 

"I don't know if we can trust you with such a vital piece of information, babe," Sirius replied with an air of exaggerated mystery. Carter huffed in response, annoyed by both his lack of answer and his repeated use of melodrama. 

"Well, if you won't tell us," Lia began, her gaze trained on Remus. She leaned closer to him, moving her lips towards his ear until she was nearly brushing it. "We'll just have to force it out of you," she whispered huskily into his ear. 

She ran her fingers lightly over his cheek, her nails scratching against the slight stubble, giving him goosebumps. He avoided looking at her, and concentrated on the looks of their friends. Her hand moved from his cheek to his hair, raking her nails against the back of his head. The others each looked at him with raised eyebrows, as he stared back with wide eyes. Save Sirius, who was sporting a grin and giving him the thumbs up. Suddenly, Lia let out a giggle and kissed him lightly on the cheek before moving away from him. 

She leaned back on the heels of her hands as if nothing had happened at all. "Well, I tried, Carter," she said casually. 

Carter rolled her eyes, "So much effort you put into it, too. I was afraid you'd strain yourself."

"I really do try to contribute to this friendship," Lia said with mock seriousness. As if trying for an example, she reached into the pocket of her skirt. "Anyone fancy a spliff?" she offered. 

"I don't know how you manage to smuggle those things in every year," Peter said as she passed the square tin to Carter, who plucked one out happily. 

"Or how you manage to afford it," Remus piped up, being the only one to understand just how expensive the drug was in the muggle world.

"When you have money, you have power, my dear Remus," Lia replied, ignoring Peter's comment entirely as she offered one to Sirius. "What about you?"

"I can't," he said. "I've got McGonagall's detention in about twenty minutes," he continued, groaning at the very idea of it. It wasn't that he actually hated detention. It was how much of a nuisance it was to attend. There were loads of other things he could be killing time with, like messing with Carter and helping James plan another Grade A prank. But instead, he had to spend the night doing god knows what because Elisa's moans happened to be a little too loud. 

"Wow, you're really stepping it up this year, Sirius. Usually you try and bail on detention," Remus added. He shook his head at Lia, turning down the offered spliff in her hand. She shrugged at him and kept it for herself. 

"James and I are trying to start over this year. Aren't we, Prongsy?" Sirius said while ruffling James's already messy hair. 

"He's doing it for Lily. I'm doing it because I only have two years left, and I figured it would be the right time to straighten out," he explained. "A little bit, at least," he added quickly when he caught the alarmed looks on everyone's faces. 

Lia raised her eyebrows quizzically, "Am I the only one who doesn't buy this?"

Carter took a drag of her spliff and shook her head. "Nope, I'm on your side," she replied between puffs of smoke. "In fact, I bet you five galleons that you'll have another detention by Monday."

Sirius only laughed, "Oh, it's on, Edevane." He pushed his messy hair out of his eyes and stood up, "And with that, ladies and gents, I'm off." They all wished him luck and shouted their goodbyes after him as he made his way back towards the castle.

-x-x-x-

While the rest of the group continued their night in the Gryffindor common room, Sirius sat in Professor McGonagall's classroom, impatiently awaiting her arrival to find out what task he would be enduring. He wasn't at all surprised when she walked through the doorway with a rather stern look on her face. He grinned cheekily at her, figuring if she was already in a sour mood, he couldn't make it any worse.

"Detention on the first weekend back from term break. That must be a new record, Mr. Black."

Sirius laughed at her clipped tone and stood up, "So what'll I be doing tonight, Minerva?"

She narrowed her eyes at his use of her first name. "Polishing trophies, as I'm sure you have grown to be a champion of, since you seem to be doing it so often," she replied. She turned on her heel to leave the room, but not before uttering a single last sentence in his direction, "And kindly refrain from using my first name, Mr. Black. It's entirely inappropriate."

He shot her an innocent smile, that would have earned brownie points from any other teacher. "You've got it, Min- I mean, Professor," he said, his grin not faltering.

-x-x-x-

Sirius had been polishing the trophies for over two hours before he was finished. After being dismissed, he headed straight towards Gryffindor tower, walking alone in the darkened, empty halls. He didn't have a watch, but he was sure it was nearing curfew, when all the students were at least supposed to be in their common rooms, if not their dorms. He walked quickly, hoping to catch his friends before they turned in for the night.

He shivered in the cool hallways, annoyed with the fact that neither Scotland nor England ever seemed to get even remotely sunny. Let alone warm enough to do average summer things, like go swimming. It was only September and they already needed jackets and jeans just to go outside. In fact, he had only really seen his friends in jackets and jeans, which is why he, unfortunately, had never seen Carter in a swimsuit.

His mouth creased into a frown at the thought of all the missed opportunities he had experienced over the summer. It wasn't as if Carter was like Lia, who had no problem walking around in little more than her underwear. He hadn't even seen Carter in a pair of shorts, which was something he immediately felt the need to remedy.

Lost in thoughts of Carter's legs, he didn't even notice a girl around his age turning the corner that he was just walking past. The two smacked straight into each other, neither having been paying a bit of attention to their surroundings. 

Sirius backed away from her, rubbing his bicep where she had walked into him. She glanced up at him, eyes wide in surprise. He attempted to get a good look at her while he could, wondering why in the world another student would be out and about in the school halls at such a late hour.

Without an invisibility cloak, at least, Sirius thought, shaking his head and smirking at the girl's amateur mistake. Her dark hair fell behind her in one long, sleek plait, quite the difference to the wild and wavy locks he was used to seeing on Carter and Lia. Unlike her hair, however, her eyes were a wide pale hazel, and were currently flickering about to and fro in a nervous manner. He couldn't help but get the feeling that she was up to no good. 

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a rather irritated voice. He knit his brows together in confusion.

"I could be asking you the same question, you know," he replied as he leaned back against the wall with his hands in his pockets. There was a moment of silence as the pair starred each other down, the girl unsure of what to do or say.

"If you must know, I had detention with Professor McGonagall," she answered curtly, crossing her arms over her chest like it would somehow improve her credibility. Sirius snorted in disbelief. 

"As much as I'd love to believe that, babe, I was the one in detention with Minerva," he informed her, rolling his eyes at her half-assed cover story. The girl answered this with a pointed glare. 

"It really isn't any of your business why I'm here," she said with a scoff before abruptly turning around and stalking away.

"Next time you sneak around late at night at least bring an invisibility cloak," Sirius called after her. He rolled his eyes again at her retreating form. Honestly. People shouldn't be sneaking around if they weren't even going to at least try and be inconspicuous. It was an insult to the rest of them, really. He and James had taken years to perfect the art, and it was only good manners to follow in their footsteps. This wasn't amateur hour, even Peter was better than that girl. Well, maybe not Peter, but at least Remus. 

Sirius shook his head in annoyance and continued his walk to Gryffindor Tower.

"Fudge flies," he yelled at the fat lady, jolting her awake from her sleep. She jumped in fright and looked startled for a moment before calming down upon seeing it was only Sirius. 

"Always nice to see you, Mr. Black," she said as she began fanning herself and gave him entrance. Sirius walked into the mostly empty common room, hoping to complain to James about the inexperienced girl lurking about in the hallways. Instead, what he found was Carter sprawled acrossed a couch near the dwindling fire, seeming to have fallen asleep in her jeans and white cotton tank top, black leather jacket having been discarded onto a nearby table.

Sirius gave a small smile and got on his knees near the couch, lowering his lips right next to her ear. "How kind of you to wait up for me, my fair lady," he murmured. Carter began to stir, and sat up, rubbing her eyes. He straightened up, "But was the plan to fall asleep?"

"Of course not, you dolt. Don't be stupid," she said groggily, smacking his chest.

"I'm wounded, my dear," he quipped, taking a seat next to her on the couch.

She pursed her lips in response. "Now I remember why I never do anything nice for you," she muttered, standing up. 

Sirius stood as well, grabbing her wrist before she had a chance to begin walking towards the girls' dorms. "Thanks," he mumbled into her hair as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, almost reluctant to do so.

Carter's cheeks reddened, and she pulled away. She would rather be fed to the giant squid than let him see her blush. "Yeah, okay," she mumbled, tugging her wrist from his grasp, "night."

"Hey Carter," he called as he watched her walk away. She stopped, waiting patiently for him to continue. "Did you happen to pack any shorts this year?" he asked in a hopeful tone.

"Fuck off, Black," she called back, continuing her walk up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bitchingwitches.tumblr.com is our fic blog


	5. Spreadable Lipstick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please note that we took out the thing where the stairs to the girls' dorm turn into a slide when a boy climbs them for the sake of the story

  
_"'My god,' he gasped, 'you're fun to kiss.'"_  
\- F. Scott Fitzgerald

-x-x-x-

Monday morning Lia sat in divination class, staring intently at Professor Leander as he instructed the students on reading their tea leaves. His eyes occasionally darted towards a students textbook before he continued with his directions. It was almost as if he had even less of an idea than they did on how to read tea leaves.

Due to her friends all having dropped divination, Lia ended up being partnered with a Hufflepuff boy, who seemed more than happy to be sitting next to her. But, while he was busy trying to get her to focus on his predictions of her tea leaves, she was blatantly ignoring him, choosing instead to stare at the handsome professor that stood in the front of the classroom. 

"Lia? Aren't you supposed to read my tea leaves now?" her partner asked. He stared at her expectantly, waiting for a response. When he didn't receive one, his eyes followed her gaze to find the professor on the receiving end. He sighed loudly in disbelief.

Lia's eyes darted towards him only long enough for him to see her roll them. "Hush, Hufflepuff. There are attractive teachers to look at," she informed him. 

"But don't you-"

"Shh!" she cut him off as Professor Leander began to speak again.   

"You've all done wonderfully," he announced to the class. Lia could have sworn his gaze lingered on her in particular as he said that. "I'd like you all to continue practicing with your tea leaves with these prediction charts and have them handed in by Friday. Class dismissed."

Lia's classmates hurriedly began packing up their books, but she decided to lag behind a bit, taking an extra amount of time to put everything back into her bag one by one. Once she was the last of the students in the classroom, she made her way to Professor Leander. 

"Professor?" Lia asked quietly as she strolled over to his desk. He simply picked his head up from gathering his papers in response. Lia frowned a moment, disturbed by the lack of attention she was receiving from him. Before he could say anything, however, she cleared her throat to continue.

"I had a question about the tea leaves?" she said, her sentence coming out more as a question than anything. 

"You mean the tea leaves you weren't paying even the slightest bit of attention to?" Leander clarified, watching Lia critically. Her eyes widened a bit in surprise, not knowing that he had noticed her lack of concentration on the assignment. 

"I-"

"Don't bother with excuses," Leander said, quickly and effectively cutting her off. "It's quite all right. Even I understand how boring tea leaves can be," he said with a small smirk. The corners of Lia's mouth twitched with a small smile. 

"Well, there's always room for extra credit, isn't there?" she replied with a sly smile. She leaned against the desk, her palms flat on it's surface. Leander looked at her for a few moments, his eyes roaming up and down her figure before finally settling on her face. 

He let out a small, amused laugh. "And what kind of extra credit did you have in mind?" he asked, his voice dropping a few octaves. 

"I'm sure you can figure something out," Lia answered. She sauntered out of the classroom, a triumphant smile on her face that Leander couldn't see.

-x-x-x-

"It's official," Lia said at lunch later that day, letting her books fall on the table before she slid into the empty seat between Remus and Carter. "I'm having Solomon's babies," she announced promptly, grabbing a piece of bread from Carter's plate.

Remus started coughing loudly, choking on the pumpkin juice he had been drinking. Lia narrowed her eyes at him briefly as she tore apart the bread in her hand. What was his problem?

Carter knitted her eyebrows together, "Who the fuck is Solomon?" she asked, leaning forward on her elbows as she looked to Lia in question. 

"The new fit divination teacher, of course," Lia chirped in response. She grinned mischievously at her friend before popping a shred of bread in her mouth. 

"Isn't that guy in his forties?" James asked, eyebrows raised in disbelief. He was certainly used to Lia setting her sights on attractive classmates, but this was the first time a teacher had come into the equation. Except that substitute they all had briefly had for potions in their fifth year. Lia had spent most of every class flirting with her, but she never acted on anything. 

"I'll have you know he's in his early thirties. Don't be daft, James," Lia retorted, as if she was offended by the mere assumption that she was going after someone older than the age of thirty-five. 

"Either way, isn't he a professor?" Sirius questioned, shooting a concerned glance at Remus out of the corner of his eye. Remus had long since recovered from his choking, and was looking at Lia expectantly, waiting on her response.

"Carpe diem, love," Lia replied with an easy grin in his direction. 

James shook his head at her, "I can't believe you can get with a teacher, but I can't even get with Lily," he said. He ran a hand through his hair, as his eyes darted around the great hall, looking to see if Evans was within earshot.

Lia's smile widened, "Don't worry, James. I'll teach you my ways," she assured him.

"I don't think you can keep up with her ways," Carter said, turning to him with a smirk. James shot her an offended look.

"Lia is too clever for you, anyhow," Remus added, getting a kick out of the look on James's face. 

"Adorable, you lot," Lia said, pinching Carter and Remus's cheeks in mock affection. 

James turned to Sirius, hoping his closest friend would stick up for him. Sirius gave him a mock grimace, "Hate to say it, but they're probably right."

"The lack of support in this group is becoming concerning," James muttered, snatching another piece of toast from his plate and tearing into it with annoyance. 

-x-x-x-

"Remind me again why you're going out on a Monday night," Lily Evans chirped from where she sat on the edge of her bed. She watched with mild interest as Lia threw dress after dress onto the floor in search for something suitable to wear. Her school uniform and robes sat discarded in a crumpled pile on the floor. 

Lily itched to clean up after Lia, though not because she minded the mess. She more minded the oncoming storm of an argument that their fourth roommate, Gwen, would inevitably start if Lia left so much of her stuff thrown haphazardly around the room for too long. 

Carter, however, was relaxing against the headboard of her bed, her arms folded lazily behind her head, and her leather jacket laying beside her. She had been ready for at least twenty minutes, but knew better than to grow too impatient at Lia when waiting for her to get ready. The girl could take hours on her hair and makeup alone. 

"What else is there to do in this godforsaken place?" Carter said in response to Lily's inquiry, before getting smacked in the face by a sequined shirt, courtesy of Lia. Carter delicately picked up the shirt, holding it between two fingers, and dropped it onto the floor next to her bed. "Goddammit, Lia, could you be any more indecisive? The boys told us to meet them ten minutes ago."

"Don't rush perfection, Carter," Lia chastised. "We should all know by this point that I must turn heads every time I go out," she told her, her voice muffled as she dug into the depths of her trunk. She continued throwing clothes out of her trunk, and Carter wondered how she managed to fit anything other than clothes in that thing in the first place. 

"It's just the guys. They've seen you in your underwear," Carter reminded her, her tone finally growing impatient. 

"That's pretty head-turning, Carter," Lia said, emerging from her trunk with a pair of white go-go boots. Carter rolled her eyes at this, pushing herself up from where she sat. There conversation was abruptly interrupted by an impatient knock on the door. 

"Open up. It's me," Sirius's muffled voice came through the door. 

"I'd rather not," Carter called back, shrugging on her leather jacket. Lia sighed at them, interrupting her own hunt for clothes, and walked over to open the door, still clothed only in a baggy jumper.

"Remus will be looking for that," Sirius said as soon as the door was open, gesturing at the too big jumper that was falling off of Lia's shoulder. She shrugged and tugged the sleeve back into place. Remus hardly minded her thievery. 

"Why are you here, Sirius?" Carter asked, pulling a leather mini skirt out of Lia's trunk and throwing it at her, successfully smacking her friend in the face with it. 

"We've been waiting downstairs for twenty minutes," he informed her. "Are you guys ready or not?" He surveyed the room, which was cluttered with various shoes, pants, and miscellaneous other articles of clothing.

"What's it look like to you?" Carter replied, gesturing to Lia, who still hadn't made any more effort to get ready. 

"It looks like Foxe needs to put on some pants so we can finally leave," Sirius said. He looked towards Lia expectantly while she inspected the skirt Carter threw her way.

"Excuse me for putting some effort into the things I wear!" Lia huffed. Despite her indignation, she seemed to have deemed the skirt acceptable. She stepped into it, not removing her glare from Sirius as she did. "Not all of us can muss up our greasy hair, put on converse sneakers and a leather jacket and call it fashion, Black."

"God forbid we run into a cute boy when her bracelet doesn't match her shoes," Carter remarked. 

"That's it. I'm getting new friends," Lia huffed, tugging on the boots she had pulled out minutes before. 

"Never leave us, Foxe," Sirius said with mock seriousness, resting his hands on her shoulders. 

"You're lucky my only other option is first years in Ravenclaw with Lola," Lia muttered, standing up and shrugging off Sirius's grasp on her. 

"You coming, Evans?" Sirius called over his shoulder as the trio made their way towards the door. 

"I think I'll pass, thanks," Lily replied, amused after having witnessed the entire exchange. 

"Aw, c'mon, Lily. Every group needs a signature ginger," Lia said, trying to coax her roommate into joining them.

"Thanks, I'm flattered," Lily said with a roll of her eyes. 

"Li-ly!" Lia whine, walking towards Lily's bed across the room. She tugged her by the arm, effectively pulling her off the bed after a half-hearted struggle on Lily's part. 

"I swear, sometimes you're worse than James," she groaned, looking around the floor for her own shoes among Lia's mess. 

"I'm cuter though, right?"

-x-x-x-

"Look who Lia annoyed into coming," Carter announced as the four of them entered the common room. James, Peter, and Remus looked up curiously from where they sat waiting on the couch nearest to the portrait hole.

"My dearest Lily-flower!" James said, grinning at her. He ran a hand through his hair, effectively tousling it as he jumped up from his seat to stand next to her. 

Lily crossed her arms and glared at him, "Walk away, Potter."

"Oh, come on, you know you two just can't stand to be without each other," Sirius said, squeezing between them and slinging his arms around their shoulders. Lily shook her head at the both of them, and stepped away, choosing instead to stand next to Carter and Lia. She was already somewhat regretting going out with them all in the first place, but Carter was right. What else was there to do? 

Remus's eyes followed Lily, trying to gauge whether she was uncomfortable or annoyed. Before he could decide, he spotted Lia next to her. Or, more specifically, he spotted the jumper half hidden by a mess of brown curls that she wore. He smiled slightly at her, amused. 

"Where'd you get that, Lia?" he questioned. 

"Your room," Lia replied bluntly. "And I paid for that shirt you're wearing, so we're totally even," she quipped, gesturing towards the Beatles t-shirt that hung on his frame. 

Remus put his hands up in mock defeat, "Fine, fine. Just make sure you give it back." 

"Yeah, good luck with that," James said, joining into their conversation and finally taking his eyes off of Lily, walking towards Lia. 

"Oh, don't act like you actually need all those jumpers, Potter," Lia said, rolling her eyes at him. 

"My mum had to buy me three new ones to replace the missing ones from last semester!" James exclaimed with a dramatic wave of his hands. "Three!" He held up three fingers for effect, as if cementing the number in Lia's mind would somehow change things. 

She swatted his hand away, "Don't be so dramatic, babe," Lia replied casually. 

Deciding Lia and James's regularly scheduled argument was over, Sirius clapped his hands together, gathering everyone's attention. "Well, shall we?" he said loudly. He jerked his thumb towards the portrait hole.

"And how on earth do we plan on doing that without getting caught by someone?" she asked, rather shocked by their lack of planning. They certainly couldn't just walk out of the school in plain sight late at night. 

"Oh, Lily," James said, putting his hands on her shoulders. She narrowed her eyes at him. "There's so much you don't know."

-x-x-x-

The seven teenagers trudged on through the dimly-lit Hogsmeade streets, the group of them making a far more conspicuous sight than they preferred. They passed by Zonko's and Madam Puddifoot's tea shop (to which Lia and Carter made fake gagging noises), only stopping when they came face to face with The Three Broomsticks. Lia pulled Remus by the hand, an excited grin on her face with the prospect of having something to do other than homework and Ravenclaw boys.

Remus glanced behind them at the others as he allowed himself to be dragged across the street and towards the door. Sirius grinned at him wolfishly in support. 

"They grow up so fast," Sirius said with a faux wistful tone to his voice. 

"Maybe one day we'll be as in love as they are, my dear," James joked good naturedly, grinning goofily at Lily. He immediately regretted his statement when she punched him in the bicep in a far less playful manner. 

"Don't press your luck, Potter," she muttered in warning, slowing down to walk with Peter, who was tailing after the others eagerly. 

"He's just messing around," Peter said once the redhead had taken her place next to him. "Don't let it bother you."

Lily smiled in response, meaning to say something, but before she could, Lia opened the door and loud merry chatter filled the air as they piled inside. They took a seat at their regular table in the back corner, squeezing too many chairs around it in hopes of fitting them all. 

"What are you all having to drink?" a waiter said, walking up to them as they arranged themselves comfortably. 

"I'd like a firewhiskey," Lia announce, her confident voice not wavering a bit, and a flirtatious smile playing on the corners of her lips. The waiter raised an eyebrow, but shook his head the next second, deciding he had better things to do than ruin a bunch of kids' fun. He turned to the rest of them expectantly. 

"We'll have the same, the lady and I," Sirius told him, throwing an arm over Carter's shoulders. She shoved his arm off immediately, groaning at his annoying antics. 

"I'll just have a butterbeer," Remus stated from his seat next to Lia. 

"Aw, come on, Remus," Lia said in response to his tame order. "A butterbeer again? Live a little, love," she continued, nudging his shoulder with her own.

"I think getting piss-drunk with you all is something for another day," he said, nudging her back playfully. She just rolled her eyes at him, albeit a smile still plastered on her face. 

It wasn't a surprise, really. Remus tended to stay mostly sober when they had classes the next day. Especially since they were beginning to work on non-verbal spells that year. 

"Firewhiskey for me," James told the waiter, to which Lily followed with a, "I'll have the same." Peter ordered a butterbeer, as expected, and the waiter walked away without a word. 

"I can't believe you guys got butterbeer. He doesn't even question our age, and you lot buy something we've been drinking since we were first years," James exclaimed in exasperation. 

"I have a prefect status to keep up. And grades, too," Remus replied in a somewhat weak defense. 

"Merlin, Remus. We snuck out of school late at night on a Monday. I'm pretty sure your prefect reputation has been effectively smeared," Carter said teasingly. Remus shrugged, staying quiet and not wanting to admit she was right about that.

-x-x-x-

Five rounds later, the group of teens, save Remus and Peter, were giggling feverishly at, what seemed to the sober pair, absolutely nothing at all. Lia leaned on Remus's shoulder, her body shaking with laughter that was finally dying down.

Somewhere between the the third and the fourth round, Carter and Sirius had moved to another table, claiming it was only to leave the others with more room. 

"What was so funny?" Peter asked, his eyes scanning his drunken friends. Lily erupted in more giggles, collapsing against James in a fit of laughter. Peter looked at Remus in genuine confusion, to which Remus responded simply by shrugging his shoulders, jostling Lia in the process. 

"Hey!" she said in exasperation, sitting up.

"Sorry," Remus apologized, trying his hardest to stifle his laughter at her expression. Her brows were furrowed and her eyes were fiery with anger, though somewhat unfocused. The momentary anger quickly subsided and she cracked a grin at Remus again. 

A few tables away, Carter called loudly for another round of firewhiskeys for herself and Sirius. 

"You are really drunk," Sirius teased Carter, tugging the ends of her hair gently. Surprisingly, she neither swatted nor shoved his hands away. He continued playing with her hair, rubbing a wavy lock between his index finger and his thumb. 

Her hair was really soft, he noted. His mind wandered for a moment, trying to figure out what she did to it to make it so soft. It had to be a spell. He should ask her about that later. He wanted soft hair, too, after all. 

"Please," she replied, "If anything, I am really sexy." Sirius raised his eyebrows at her, thoughts of the texture of her hair falling away as quickly as they came. 

"I'd hate to disagree with that one," he said, moving his hand from her hair to the top of her hand. 

She sighed loudly, annoyed that their drinks hadn't arrived when she had so clearly told the waiter what she wanted. 

"Why aren't our drinks here yet?" Carter whined, "I ordered them like an hour ago."

"You ordered them like two minutes ago," Sirius told her, grinning sloppily. 

Carter stuck out her bottom lip in a pout, "Quit being so rational," she told him. 

"I'd like to be pretty irrational around you," he said, his words slurring together. 

"Doesn't everyone?" Carter quipped, intertwining their fingers in a rather clumsy manner.  
"It's probably because you smell really good," Sirius said, leaning towards her and inhaling the scent of her incredibly soft hair with a loud sniff. Carter let out a decidedly out of character giggle at this, making Sirius laugh, too. He leaned forward and buried his nose in her hair for a minute before moving away a bit. 

"You are really drunk," Sirius repeated. He leaned down closer to her, focusing on her eyes instead of her hair. He got closer than he meant to, swaying, unbalanced in his chair as their noses brushed against each other. 

"I know," Carter mumbled, feeling his warm, sticky breath fan against her lips. It smelled strongly of alcohol, but then, so did she. She couldn't differentiate the scent of his breath and the scent of her own as they mingled together in the inch of space between their mouths. 

Wordlessly, Sirius closed the gap between them, pressing his lips sloppily against hers. Carter's hands moved to either sides of his face, her fingers tangling with the ends of his hair. Sirius wrapped his arms around her lower waist, tugging her closer to him, to which she obeyed. She pressed herself against him, close to falling out of her own chair.  
Carter tugged on his lower lip with her teeth, and he smiled against her lips. 

All those times Sirius had given her an opening that Carter had blatantly ignored; what an idiot she had been, now that her lips were on top of his. She couldn't recall the last time she had had such a good snog, drunken or not. 

Two tables away, the rest of the teens were getting ready to head out, completely unaware of their two friends pressed up against each other, and ignoring the drinks that had finally been delivered. James stood up from his seat, clutching the table for support as he steadied himself. He offered a hand to Lily, who, much to his surprise, actually took it. 

Peter and Remus pulled the trashed-out-of-her-mind Lia from her seat, helping her to the door, only stopping when she pulled a handful of money out of her pocket and deposited it on the table to pay for their drinks. 

The three of them made their way to the door, Lia stumbling and half slumped over on Remus's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her waist, trying to support her as they made their way past James and Lily. Lia somehow slipped from Remus's grasp, stumbling over her own two feet. Lily grabbed her on pure instinct, catching her friend before she hit the floor. 

Remus glanced back at their table, seeing more glasses than he remembered in front of Lia's seat. It was unsurprising she ordered more than the others while they weren't looking. Lily wrapped Lia's arm around her shoulder, helping Remus and Peter somehow get her back to the dorm.

James, realizing that Carter and Sirius were not following the others, stepped away from the group to find them. Upon seeing them together, lips locked, he made a loud gagging noise. 

He grabbed Sirius by the collar of his shirt, pulling the two apart. "What're you doing, mate?" he slurred, amusement glinting in his eye. 

"Having a bit of fun," Sirius replied, smirking at Carter.

"Hurry up now, tossers! Lia's on her last leg here," They heard Remus call over the crowd of people, beckoning them to the front door. 

"Well, none of us want to have to carry Foxe home," Sirius yelled back, his voice far too loud.

He stood up, grasping Carter's hand and tugged her to her feet. The three of them stumbled through the path towards the door, heading back to Honeydukes, and hoping none of them would make too much noise on the way to the common room.


	6. Drunkenness  Blues

  
_"Though we adore men individually, we agree that as a group they're rather stupid."_  
\- Mary Poppins

-x-x-x-

Lily led the way to the girls' room, followed by a sluggish Carter, and Lia, who was leaning heavily against Remus as he held her steady. They walked into the room, trying, and failing, to stay quiet and avoid waking up their fourth roommate, Gwendolyn Hammet. Carter stumbled across the room towards her bed. She didn't even stop to discard her shoes or jacket before falling face first into the duvet and pillows.

Gwen groaned as she sat up in her bed, sweeping her tangled dark hair out of her eyes. She glared at them sleepily, "Are you guys really doing this again this year?" she asked with tired disbelief. "Even you Lily?"

"Gwenny, dear, don't be such a prude," Lia said, her words slurring heavily. 

"Merlin, does she have to get pissed every time you lot sneak out?" Gwen asked, burying her face in her hands. Lily shrugged and shushed her before tripping into her own bed, anxious to get as much sleep as possible before classes the next day. 

Meanwhile, Remus had managed to drag Lia over to her bed, intending to drop her on it and leave. Lia, however, had other ideas. Instead of falling face into the unmade sheets as expected, she began disrobing. She struggled with the zipper on her skirt for a few moments and wobbled a bit as she stood on one foot, stepping out of the it.

Remus stood next to her, preparing to catch her if she fell. Miraculously, she stood standing, much to Remus's surprise. Kicking her skirt to the side, she stood next to her bed in just the oversized sweater she had been wearing. She grabbed Remus's arm, and attempted to yank him towards her. He stood solidly in place, looking at her warily.

"What're you doing?" she asked. "Come to bed."

"My bed is not in here, Lia," Remus said slowly.

"No, come to my bed," she told him, mimicking his slow and deliberate tone. She plopped down on her bed, keeping a firm grip on his arm. She looked up at him with a poor attempt at one of her usual pouts. 

"Lia, I can't stay here," he replied, trying to remove his arm from her grasp. He would like very much to stay there and sleep in Lia's bed, were she sober and completely aware of what she was saying. But she wasn't, and he certainly wasn't going to take advantage of his drunken best friend. 

"Why not?" she whined. God, she was relentless. He sighed loudly before pushing her shoulder gently until she was laying down. 

"Go to bed."

He moved to walk away, but Lia grabbed his arm once again. The pout on her face was gone, and was replaced with mirth as she tried to suppress her laughter. 

"Hey, baby, are you a parking ticket? 'Cause you've got fine written all over you," she told him. He started laughing then, at her comment and the ridiculousness of it all. 

Gwen groaned from the other side of the room, "Merlin's pants, Lia! Go to bed! Now is not the time for this," she said. She threw herself back into her pillows, hoping that Remus would leave, and Lia would shut up so they could all sleep. How on earth had she gotten stuck with these people as roommates? Even Lily was defecting to their side now. 

"Quiet, Gwen! This is very important!" Lia replied, her voice so loud she was all but yelling. 

Remus frantically clapped a hand over her mouth, trying to stop her from yelling again. The last thing they needed was for some prefect to wake up and find them all drunk with him in their room. Remus rolled his eyes at his own train of thought. He was a prefect. 

She glared up at him, though it was hardly menacing. What with the smeared remains of that days eyeliner, and her hair falling into her face. He waited a few moments before taking his hand away, making sure she really was going to stay silent. 

"You really should go to bed now, Lia."

And after a few moments of staring, she was out.

-x-x-x-

Unfortunately, the next morning was not as fun for Lia as that night had been. She sat on her knees, hunched over the toilet in the girls' second floor bathroom as she threw up last night's firewhiskey and whatever else remained in her stomach. She was sticky with sweat, and her hair stuck to the nape of her neck as she struggled to keep it both out of the toilet and away from her mouth.

"How unfortunate," Moaning Myrtle said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. She floated closer to Lia, giggling loudly at the hungover girl. Lia winced at the volume of the laughter, but didn't bother responding as she heaved into the toilet. 

"That's what happens when you're naughty," Myrtle said, her amusement blatant. 

"God," Lia moaned in between takes, hoping that she had reached a point where she was out of things to vomit. Once she was sure it was over, she dropped her head on the cold seat, too tired to care that it was completely unsanitary. She sat still for a moment to catch her breath. Myrtle sure made this bathroom miserable, but it was the best place to vomit up alcohol without getting caught. Because of the previously mentioned freakishly annoying ghost, no one wanted to use this bathroom, leaving it as her safe haven after a night of drinking.

She struggled to stand up before flushing all the nastiness down the toilet. The taste lingered in her mouth as she staggered over to the sink, planning to gargle water and rid herself of it.

Moaning Myrtle followed her, floating a few feet behind and belting out sly comments. She was obviously overjoyed at the sight of such a pretty girl in such a disheveled state. Lia merely flipped her off before turning the water on. Myrtle took great offense to that, and cried until she flew back through the pipes again. 

Lia was splashing her face with cool water when Carter walked in. She looked nearly as bad as Lia did. Her hair was even more tousled than usual, and her eyeliner had been drawn on by an obviously shaky hand. Lia, however, hadn't even bothered with makeup that morning. Her eyes had dark circles underneath them that she didn't care enough to cover, and her hair was haphazardly drawn into a low ponytail. 

"Did you come here to throw up?" Lia asked, patting her face dry with a towel. 

Carter shook her head, "No. And if Sirius asks, I was not the one that threw up in his bag."

Lia gave a weak laugh, "Then why are you here?"

"Remus is looking for you," Carter lied, leaning against the counter and squeezing her eyes shut. Remus hadn't been looking for Lia. In fact, Carter hadn't even seen Remus yet that morning. She was only in that bathroom to hide from Sirius. 

A sudden rush of memories from the night before had hit her as she walked to breakfast, and she didn't think she would be able to face him at all. Not without seeming nervous and twitchy, at least. And Lia had been so hungover that she had skipped everything thus far. Carter didn't even have her there for moral support, as she usually would.

Then again, she didn't really want to tell Lia that she and Sirius had gotten too drunk, and snogged the living daylights out of each other. She had sat nervously through breakfast with them, as she had nowhere else to sit without raising suspicion, quietly hoping Sirius wouldn't bring it up. To both her relief and dismay, he had been acting completely normal all morning. 

With any luck, he had been acting normal because he forgot all that transpired. She hoped James had forgotten too, seeing as he was the one who had broken them up before they left. 

"Didn't Defense Against The Dark Arts start, like, fifteen minutes ago? Why isn't he there?" Lia asked, scrunching up her nose in confusion. 

"Because you didn't even show up at breakfast," Carter supplied. "He was worried."

"Well, it's not his job to be worried. I can take care of myself," Lia quipped, standing a little straighter. Carter winced. She hadn't meant to stir the pot. 

"Yeah, I get that. But maybe you did something last night that worried him. What even happened last night? I barely remember any of it," Carter replied, lying through her teeth and simultaneously trying to change the subject. She really hoped no one else she knew had seen them. The last thing she needed was Lily or Peter asking her about it. 

"I'm sure I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Remus just needs to drop it and quit skipping classes because I overslept," Lia retorted angrily. Carter tried to resist from groaning, annoyed with herself for causing nonexistent problems between Remus and Lia. And she knew Lia was likely to spout off at Remus about it later, too, which would only cause more problems than she already had.

-x-x-x-

Hoping to catch up with Lia before they all headed to eat their lunches by the lake as per usual, Remus scanned the great hall, searching for the familiar sight of bright blue eyes and wavy brown hair. He spotted her by the Ravenclaw table, chatting animatedly with her younger sister, the red in her uniform standing out in stark contrast against the sea of blue. He weaved his way through the crowd of students, making his way over to her. He made eye contact with Lola first, who grinned brightly at him.

"Hey, Remus," she said, waving at him as he reached the two girls. He smiled at the young girl. 

Lia glanced at him dismissively. "Oh, hi," she muttered before turning back to Lola. Remus raised his eyebrows inquisitively at her reaction. 

"Where have you been all day?" he asked her, unknowingly opening a can of worms 

"We'll discuss this later, Lupin," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. Remus's eyes widened at her unexpected response. Behind Lia, Lola shrugged good naturedly, not knowing what was going on with her older sister. Lia's mood swings were beyond her. 

"Anyway," Lia continued, focusing her attention solely on her little sister, "I just wanted to ask you how the Ravenclaw girls were treating you. Because if the answer is 'badly', then they will have some unfaithful boyfriends to talk to."

Lola looked at her warily. "No. Everything is fine. This isn't St. Peter's," she assured her, referring to the private school she had gone to until she was eleven. Lia shrugged her shoulders, not bothering to comment on what she may have done to the older girls who had treated a nine year old Lola badly. 

"Alright, and you're doing okay in your classes?" Lia asked. Before Lola had the chance to answer, the brunette sitting beside her had abruptly stood up, dropping one of her books in the process. She quickly picked it up and scurried away, throwing an anxious look over her shoulder. The three of them watched her in bewilderment, wondering where she was going in such a hurry. Lunch had only began ten minutes before.

Lia stared after the girl, transfixed on the ugly hiking boots she had been wearing. Who on earth would wear hiking boots in the middle of a school day? Especially ones covered in mud. Still looking at the ground, she spotted a deserted scrap of paper lying where the girl's books had landed. She looked at it curiously before she knelt down to pick it up.

"Hey!" Lia called after her, waving the note around wildly in the air. "You dropped something!"

The girl either didn't hear her, or was ignoring her completely. Shrugging her shoulders, Lia looked down at the paper in her hand. 

"Killers of the Air," she read aloud, ignoring Remus peeking over her shoulder. 

"Why would someone be checking that out of the library? It's in the restricted section," he commented. Lola looked between the two in confusion, having never heard of most wizard books. 

Still puzzled, Lia stared at the words, scrawled messily in black ink. "Let's ask Sirius during lunch," she suggested. "He always knows weird shit like this."

-x-x-x-

"Care to explain why you were 'worried about me' this morning?" Lia asked Remus as they reached their usual spot by the lake. She had been uncharacteristically quiet as they made their way to the lake, but as soon as they sat in the warm grass, Lia had turned to him with an accusing glance. The pair were waiting on the rest of the group, but more specifically, Sirius, who had taken it upon himself to supply them all with stolen food by using the secret entrance to the kitchens.

Remus looked to Lia in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

Lia rolled her eyes at him, not believing his words or the confusion on his face. They had been friends since they were barely out of diapers. There was no sense in playing dumb at this point. 

"I'm talking about sending Carter to the bathroom to make sure I was all right. I'm fully capable of watching after myself, I'll have you know," she informed him.

"What? I never sent Carter to look for you," Remus insisted vehemently. Lia looked at him critically, studying his expression as if she would be able to tell if he was lying just by the way his brow was furrowed. After a few moments, she decided he was telling the truth, and looked towards the ground instead of him. 

'Then what the hell was Carter trying to tell me this morning?' Lia thought to herself as she stared at the ground in concentration. She attempted to piece it together, based solely on the apparent lies Carter had told her that morning. Remus watched her concentrated silence, feeling even more lost that before. 

"What's happening in your head right now, Lia?" Remus asked, recognizing the look on her face as the one she always wore when trying to make sense of something. Though he usually only saw it when they were studying or in class. 

She remained quiet for a few minutes longer, only snapping out of her reverie when the sounds of James and Peter's jovial laughter reached them. She looked up at Remus, feeling his stare on her. 

"Nothing," she replied quietly, leaving Remus watching her with concern. 

She turned to the direction of their friends' laughs, and saw James and Peter headed their way along with Sirius, who was toting a ginormous picnic basket that could only be filled to the brim with food. 

"There better be some pumpkin juice in there," Lia called to them, as if she hadn't just been in deep thought at all. 

"I got you covered, Foxe," Sirius replied. He dug around in the basket for a few moments before presenting a new and unopened bottle of her favorite drink. He threw it her way, and she caught it with ease. 

"Not bad, Lia. You could probably make keeper," Peter said to her once they had all plopped down in their familiar half assed circle. 

"I haven't got a clue what a keeper does, but I'm gonna say thanks anyways, Pete," Lia said, grinning at him. He shot her a small smile. 

James, however, sighed in great exasperation. "Well maybe you would know if you actually attended the games," he told her, annoyance obvious in his tone. 

"I attend the games!" Lia replied defensively. 

"Yeah, and you make out with some poor, unsuspecting bloke behind the stands," Sirius added, his tone more good natured than James's. After all, you couldn't expect everyone to enjoy quidditch as much as they did. 

"If anything, they are always suspecting, dear Sirius. I'm sorry if I like to have a little fun every once in awhile," Lia replied easily before taking a sip of her pumpkin juice. 

"Anyone seen Carter?" Sirius asked, looking around their group on the off chance he had just not noticed her. A general murmur of disagreement followed his question. 

"Haven't seen her since breakfast," James replied, digging around in the basket for desserts. They all sat in comfortable silence for a bit, the sounds of chewing filling the air. 

"Have any of you heard of that book 'Killers of the Air'?" Remus asked the group after a few moments. 

Sirius swallowed his food quickly, anxious to share his knowledge with them. "You mean the one about legendary birds that have caused mass murders?" Sirius supplied with a general tone of amusement in his voice. 

Lia shook her head in disbelief, "How is it you always just know these things?" she asked.

Sirius snorted, "You're asking the guy who comes from a family that shrinks house elf heads. How is it surprising that we have a lot of books on mass killings?" 

"I forget that you all live in wizarding houses," Lia responded. "I'm not even allowed to keep my textbooks in sight at home, and my wand is confiscated at the end of every school year," she remarked before taking a bite of gateau, as if this seemingly uncomfortable fact to the others was nothing out of the ordinary for her. 

"Can't use magic over the summer anyways," Peter reminded her, his mouth full of food. 

Lia nodded her head, "That too."

"That's the dumbest rule," James cut in. "What I wouldn't give to use magic to pack for Hogwarts each year."

"I'm surprised they trust you with magic in school, Potter," Carter said, sauntering up to the group, leather jacket slung over her shoulder and a cigarette perched delicately between her lips. 

"Oh sod off, Carter," James muttered, narrowing his eyes at her. 

"Where ya been, babe?" Lia asked. Carter took a seat beside her, offering her a cigarette from the pack in her pocket. 

"Sending an owl off to Nate," she lied, taking another drag. Everyone seemed to buy it, returning back to their food and conversation. Sirius, however, watched her carefully, and noticed how she refused to meet any of their eyes.


	7. Supernova Remnants

  
_"The key to good eavesdropping is not getting caught."_

\- Lemony Snicket

-x-x-x-

"I suppose you are all wondering why I brought you out here," Professor Sallow began, her voice loud and booming throughout the Forbidden Forest. She led a group of students to what seemed to be an empty clearing, her robes swishing back and forth as she stepped over tree roots and fallen leaves. Sirius and Carter followed their classmates and teacher in uncharacteristic silence.

Carter glanced to her left, where Sirius walked, and found him concentrating on the ground, trying not to trip over anything. Her eyes were fixed on him as they continued on. She didn't notice when they all stopped walking, bumping into Lyra Sapworthy from behind as a result and earning a glare from the Slytherin student. She shrugged at Lyra before turning her attention towards Professor Sallow, who was surrounded by dozens of thestrals. Carter was a bit startled at how close they all were, but the professor was just gently petting one on the forehead. The most threatening thing it seemed to do was nudge her hand with it's nose, in what Carter could only translate as a somewhat affectionate gesture. 

"For those of you who can see the wee blighters," Professor Sallow continued, gesturing to what most of the students assumed to be an empty space, "partner up with those who cannot. Today we will be studying the feeding habits of thestrals." The majority of the students were confused, but there seemed to be a handful who knew exactly what she was referring to. 

Gwendolyn Hammett immediately shot her hand up in the air. "Aren't these considered a rather big threat? Is it safe to have students handling them?" The rest of the students were quick to nod their heads and murmur their agreements. Although it was safe to say the majority of them were just afraid to feed something whose teeth they couldn't see. Professor Sallow only smiled. 

"They may be considered a big threat, but that's only from the wizards and witches who do not handle them with care. So long as you're gentle while feeding them, they won't hurt you at all," she replied, her hands resting firmly on her hips. 

Professor Sallow was considerably more adventurous than the majority of their other professors, not bothering to stick with a set curriculum. She tended to teach them more about the interesting creatures, rather than the average ones they already knew plenty about. It easily made her Carter's favorite. She wasn't afraid to bend the rules, as long as she knew exactly how to get them out of a sticky situation, should one arise. 

"What exactly are thestrals?" a Slytherin, Penryn Ellwood, asked. The professor began to patiently explain what the creatures were to her students, answering their numerous questions. Sirius ignored what she was saying. He slung his arm lazily over Carter's shoulders, leaning against her. 

"One who can see them and one who can't," Sirius said, repeating Professor Sallow's words. "Guess that means you and me, babe," he finished, not bothering to pay attention to the rules Professor Sallow was setting for interaction with the thestrals. Carter shrugged his arm off of her, still feeling extremely uncomfortable around him because of the kiss. Taking her actions as a sign that they shouldn't partner up, Sirius glanced over at her worriedly.

"Wait, you can see them, right?"

He was suddenly unsure of whether he got the whole story straight. After all, she barely talked about it with anyone except Lia. 

She stared at what he presumed was the herd of thestrals a few yards away, "Yeah, I can see them," she confirmed. "I mean, I was there when my mom died." She shot a look at his worried expression; the one he always wore whenever she mentioned her mother. She quickly averted her eyes, remembering how they had spent the night a week prior. 

Intent on avoiding eye contact with him as soon as possible, she rushed towards one of the few thestrals that wasn't being mobbed by other students. A small one that stood at the edge of the herd. Sirius stared after her for a moment, both confused and still somewhat worried. 

"Hey!" Sirius said, hurrying to catch up with her. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off abruptly by Professor Sallow. 

"Now, if you will draw your attention to my right, you will see that there are multiple buckets by me. Each one contains the average amount of meat a thestral eats in one sitting. After you pair up, please come retrieve one of them," she instructed, pausing at the grimaces on some of the students' faces. "I promise, they're harmless. In fact, they pull the carriages to Hogwarts at the beginning of each year."

Sirius turned to Carter with a lopsided grin on his face, trying to ease her out of whatever kind of bad mood she was in. "C'mon," he said, nodding towards the buckets. Carter pointedly ignored him, petting something in front of her that he couldn't see. 

"I'm sure you can handle grabbing a bucket on your own, Black," she replied, not looking away from the thestral. He shot her a perplexed look, but headed towards the buckets nonetheless. He watched her carefully as he hauled the bucket back to their spot. Something had certainly been up with her recently, though he couldn't figure out what. She didn't look up at him once, only staring at the invisible creature in front of her.

"You okay?" he said upon return. She shrugged noncommittally in response, cautiously picking up a piece of raw meat. It felt slimy and wet in her hands, but was surprisingly warm from being left in the sun for a long period of time. Carter grimaced as she held out her hand to the thestral, who took the meat happily in response. Sirius stared at the strange sight before him. Not only was he failing to see whatever the hell Carter was feeding, but Carter herself was acting unusually awkward. 

"So..." he began, trailing off when he realized he had nothing to continue with. 

Carter raised her eyebrows at him in question. "Yes?"

Sirius searched his mind for something to say to fill the unbearable silence. "What do thestrals look like?' he finally asked, inwardly cringing at such a ridiculous question. 

"Look in your textbook, dumbass," Carter said, rolling her eyes at him. 

"Well, maybe if you would actually talk to me, I wouldn't have to resort to stupid questions to get your attention," he replied, crossing his arms like a spoiled child. 

"I'm talking to you now," Carter remarked. She shook her head at him, turning her attention back towards the thestral, who was eating eagerly out of her hand. She wrinkled her nose when it licked her hand in affection, it's tongue rough and wet with saliva. 

"Yeah, but it's not the same," Sirius offered weakly. 

"The same as what?"

"You know..." he trailed off again, unable to formulate the words to explain himself. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for an answer that she knew would never come. She honestly wasn't meaning to be short with him, but she couldn't seem to talk to him with the knowledge of the kiss weighing down on her. Especially since it seemed he had no memory of it whatsoever. What if she let it slip? Or worse, what if James told the entire group?

"I really don't know, Sirius."

Eventually, the thestrals had eaten their fill while Professor Sallow finished the remainder of their lesson. The students returned their buckets to the pile one by one, leaving them there for Hagrid, the gamekeeper, to clean up later. 

The group began to walk back through the Forbidden Forest and toward Hogwarts. Carter and Sirius lagged behind, falling into yet another uncomfortable conversation, much to Carter's chagrin. 

"What is up with you?" Sirius asked in exasperation, unsure of what he may have done to make her so annoyed with him. Usually when he was annoying it was on purpose, and he remembered it afterwards. It never made anyone mad at him for a week, either. Except maybe McGonagall, or Lia that time he stepped on her favorite record and broke it in two. 

Carter searched her mind for a response, opening her mouth to reply long before she had an answer. Before she even had a chance to formulate one, a deafening cawing sound filled the air, coming from deep within the forest. She and Sirius stopped short, turning to look behind them where the noise originated from. They looked to one another with wide eyes, silently trying to determine what had made such an ear piecing sound. 

The other students had left them far behind, leaving only the two of them to hear it. Neither of them had ever heard a noise quite like it. It was loud, scratchy and raw, so much so that it almost hurt their ears. They stood completely still for a few minutes, as if even thinking of moving would trigger the sound again. A rustling of leaves finally broke them from their reveries. They whirled around, looking in the direction of the leaves and expecting the worst. Carter's shoulders sagged with relief when she saw it was merely Callaway Strauss. 

"Professor Sallow said you two needed to hurry it up," he called to them. 

"What was that?" Sirius whispered severely, looking at Carter as they jogged to catch up with the group, and to further themselves from whatever made that awful noise.

-x-x-x-

Soon after classes came quidditch practice, and neither Sirius nor Carter had had any time to discuss what they had heard in the woods. With only a few weeks left until the season started up again, the Gryffindor team was trying to get in as much time at the pitch as possible. The practices usually consisted of grueling hours of training, complete with James shouting at everyone in the background; which is why Carter was more than surprised when Lia accepter her invitation to watch. She claimed that she was eager to learn more about quidditch, what with how adamant Carter had been that she actually attend the games this year, but Carter was suspicious nonetheless.

"So I'm thinking we need to take a new approach altogether," James began with a look of fierce determination on his face; one that was not matched by any of his fellow teammates. They looked more impatient and bored than anything, though James hardly noticed.

"Hopefully one that includes less yelling?" Anwen Harris, the team seeker, said hopefully. The others nodded in agreement while James rolled his eyes at her, obviously unimpressed with the lack of enthusiasm. 

"As I was saying, before Anwen so rudely interrupted, we need a new plan," James continued, pausing to look at the seeker pointedly. "If anyone cared to notice, I'm still finding dungbombs in the bottom of my bookbag after classes with the Slytherins. I don't want to risk losing to them again this year."

"I could always do with less gloating in the hallways. How do we go about this?" Owen Croft replied. It was obvious that he did not care as much as he wanted to lead on, seeing as his eyes were still pinched shut due to to the exhaustion of that day's classes. 

"Excellent question, Croft! I say we up practices to at least five times a week," this was greeted with a long continuous groan from everyone, "and train until midnight."

"James, we don't have enough time for that," Carter replied, her voice laced with exasperation. He was seeming to forget they also had homework to do. As much as she loved quidditch, they couldn't very well pretend it was the only part of school. "We can't just-"

"Hold that thought, Carter dearest. I'm just now realizing... Has anyone seen Kristoff?" James said, cutting into Carter's sentence unapologetically. When she glanced around and found that Kristoff was, indeed, nowhere to be found, she simply closed her mouth and shook her head. 

"I could have sworn he followed us into the pitch," Yvette Ralston said, speaking up for the first time since they piled into the Gryffindor locker room. 

"He was right behind me when we left the castle," Zamira Golpalott, the team keeper, piped up.

Kristiff Leatherby had, in fact, followed them all into the pitch, intending to join them in the locker room as per usual. However, he had been promptly distracted by a lanky brunette that sat on the stands, waiting impatiently for her friends' quidditch practice to begin. 

"I'm really not supposed to be out here," Kristoff breathed as Lia trailed kisses down his neck. They were underneath the stands, partially hidden to everyone else. This was upon Kristoff's insistence, as he didn't want to be caught by his teammates and receive a long lecture from James. Whenever someone missed practice, James tended to go into a rant on dedication to both the team and the sport, and Kristoff hardly cared to listen to it. He'd heard it enough times already. 

"Shhh, Gryffindor," Lia murmured before pressing her lips to his chastely. "I thought you didn't want to get caught."

"I didn't-" Kristoff was quickly silenced mid-sentence by Lia shushing him again. This time, however, she was not doing it flirtatiously, but instead abruptly with a finger pressed to his lips. Unrecognizable voices floated towards them, coming from two nearby Gryffindor boys, who sat on the stands awaiting the start of the practice. The two obviously had no clue that Kristoff and Lia were hidden just a few feet away from them, fully in hearing range. 

"Yeah, mate, I've been checking the Daily Prophet everyday since Owen told me about it," one of them said. 

"Four wizards? Are you sure it was four?" the other replied, anxiety evident in his shaking voice. 

"Torn to bits. Said they found feathers, torn up robes with blood on them, and bits of broken wands," the first voice answered. "The ground was torn to shreds as well. It's as if the thing had giant claws or something."

Just as the sentence was finished, another voice came storming out onto the pitch, much louder and angrier than either of the first two. 

"Leatherby!" James bellowed. Kristoff jumped, startled, and hit his head on the stands above him. He gave Lia a look of panic, obviously waiting for her to have some sort of plan. Instead of responding, she simply winked and shot him a devilish grin. 

That didn't take the previous conversation out of her head, though, and she was left mulling over it as Kristoff darted out from underneath the stands. She made a mental note to look into the story when she received her next copy of the Daily Prophet as she watched Kristoff miserably descend the stands. 

While Kristoff was being reprimanded by James, (Lia positively beside herself with amusement), the rest of the team mounted their brooms and kicked up, circling around the pitch in anticipation as they waited. Lia walked casually from her place underneath the stands, and took a seat near the two boys who had been talking before. She was hoping to further eavesdrop on their conversation, should they choose to continue it. After all, quidditch was certainly going to be boring to watch. She may as well try and entertain herself with those around her. 

Carter watched Lia critically as she walked out from her hiding place. She quirked a brow, knowing very well where Kristoff had been, and, more importantly, what he had been up to. It now made sense why Lia had agreed to attend the practice. Even still, Carter waved to her friend and gave her a smile, which Lia returned gladly.

Regardless of her antics, Carter couldn't be happier that she was there. 

"Oi! Foxe!" Lia's head suddenly perked up at Sirius's voice, enthused at the prospect of not having to watch the practice alone. She glanced over and saw him shimmying in between the stands toward her. He didn't even bother to sit down before he opened his mouth again. 

"You busy this afternoon?" he asked. His tall figure almost completely blocked her view of the entire pitch and a fit bird named Anwen Harris that she had been eyeing ever since Carter joined the quidditch team. 

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "Why?" Sirius took a seat next to her, and he scanned the field for either James or Carter-Lia wasn't sure which-before responding. 

"Carter and I want to hold a meeting in the common room later. Think you could get Remus and Peter in on it?"

"Oh, a meeting? How business-like," she quipped, a small, amused smile playing at the corners of her lips. "And of course I can. Peter is easlly manipulated, and Remus is far too nice to say no."

"I'll have you know I'm incredibly business-like, babe."

-x-x-x-

Later that night in the common room, Sirius recited the entire story of what happened during class that morning. With Carter's help, of course. Though his contribution made it sound far more like a suspenseful action film than hers did, making Lia almost regret introducing him to the Bond Series in the first place. He explained everything though, and made sure to include his impersonation of the noise the creature made, much to everyone's dismay.

"Merlin, Sirius, we've heard the noise a billion times, and we still don't know what it is!" James said in exasperation after Sirius had made the excruciating sound again. 

"Please don't ever try and make that noise again," Peter added. Lia nodded, still wincing from the last time Sirius had let out what he insisted was the exact caw he and Carter had heard in the woods.

"There's all kinds of stuff in the Forbidden Forest. I'm not sure why you both are so hung up on this," Remus said, shaking his head. There was tons of homework piled on his bed upstairs that he should be attending to. He had very little time for Carter's paranoia, and Sirius's tendency to make mountains out of molehills. 

"Yeah, but what if it has to do with that book title that Lia found?" Carter pointed out. "It's mostly flying creatures that caw like that. I mean, you won't very well hear a centaur make that sort of noise."

"Actually," Lia piped up. She looked far more alert than she had before, sitting up instead of slumped in the couch she sat on. "It could also have something to do with those strange wizard deaths," she said, speaking of what she had overheard earlier that day. As soon as quidditch practice had ended, she took to Gryffindor tower without stopping for a chat; it wasn't uncommon to find an abandoned copy of that day's Daily Prophet lying around. After she had read up on the story, everything the two boys had been discussing began to make sense. 

The five teenagers all looked to Lia in question, and she couldn't contain the smug smile on her face at the knowledge that she finally knew about something in the wizarding world that her friends did not. 

"What are you talking about?" Peter asked after it seemed obvious that no one else was planning on speaking up.

Lia mulled over the idea of leaving them in suspense a moment longer, but she decided sharing the information was more important than her own amusement. "Earlier today, during quidditch practice, Kristoff Leatherby and I were snogging underneath the st-"

"That's where he went!" James said loudly, interrupting Lia. She quieted him with a glare before continuing on, completely oblivious to the look on Remus's face.

"Anyways," she continued with a pointed look, "Owen Croft's obnoxious friends were practically yelling their conversation. Honestly, fourth years are the worst," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"Lia," Carter whined, dragging out the 'a' in Lia's name. The last thing she wanted was Lia getting sidetracked by complaining about annoying fourth year boys, which was something she'd been ranting about since they themselves were fourth years. This was obviously something important Lia had to tell them. 

"Right. They were talking about four wizards that had recently been killed, and after practice, I looked it up and they were right. Four wizards were killed a few days ago; found in the woods. All that was left was their broken wands, blood, and shredded robes. Eyewitnesses say that the ground was torn up, too, by what looked like claws. Or, you know, talons," Lia concluded. Everyone looked at her with wide, surprised stares, and Lia allowed herself a second to gloat inwardly. 

"That's it," Sirius announced after a couple minutes of stunned silence. "We have to go explore the forest." The common room was immediately filled with protests by Remus and Lia respectively. 

"I'm not sure I want to go looking for some strange creature in the woods that might be eating wizards," Remus commented. "I have plans to, you know, make it to graduation."

"Yeah, me too," Lia cut in. "Plus I have to study for the transfiguration test, and I still can't say those spells right outside of my head," she said, not entirely keen on exploring the Forbidden Forest late at night any time soon. Typically, she was up for any sort of adventure, but she wanted to draw the line at the suicide mission Sirius had just proposed. It wasn't as if they were certain this was actually a threat, anyways. She definitely was not going to go risk getting killed by centaurs in the middle of the night for nothing.

"Wait, no. That's definitely what we should do," Carter agreed eagerly. She and Sirius both turned to James with almost identical hopeful looks, obviously wanting him to agree with them. Peter turned to him as well, anxious to hear who he sided with. He wouldn't speak up until both James and Sirius's votes were accounted for. 

James sighed, "It's scary how similar those looks are," he told Carter and Sirius. "I guess I'm in. What can it hurt?"

"Well, I am not in. I'm heading to my room so I can study in peace," Lia said, straightening her skirt. She reached down to retrieve her textbook, only to be halted by Carter's hand grasping her wrist. 

"Wait, Lia. Why don't we go to the forest tomorrow? After this oh-so-important test, of course," Carter suggested, looking at Lia with hopeful eyes. Lia stared at her best friend for a few moments before sighing loudly. 

"Fine. We'll go," Lia finally gave in, the others letting out a small whoop of victory as soon as the words came out of her mouth. "But if I fail this class and I'm taken out of Hogwarts by my father, it'll all be on your heads."

"Don't be so melodramatic," James said, rolling his eyes. "After all, we get to use my invisibility cloak," he said, his eyes lit up at the prospect. 

Carter scoffed, "You mean you and Sirius get to use the invisibility cloak and the rest of us hope for the best."


	8. Shock Therapy

  
_"Without fear there cannot be courage."_

\- Christopher Paolini

-x-x-x-

It was nearing midnight and the nearby fire had dwindled to little more than embers and ashes as Carter and Lia sat in the Gryffindor common room, waiting for the boys to come meet them. After much discussion, the lot of them had decided to follow through with Carter's previously mentioned plan.

Lia, still as annoyed as she had been the night before when the idea had blossomed, was scribbling transfiguration notes haphazardly onto a piece of parchment. Carter hadn't been too keen on it either after she began to think it through, (not that she would admit it to anyone), but she was thankful it had at least put a temporary stop to James's crazy new quidditch schedule. 

The pair didn't utter a word to each other as they waited, the crackling of the last dying remnants of the fire and Lia's quill scratching were the only sounds that could be heard. Suddenly an overwhelming and unexpected thought came over Lia, and she sat up abruptly. Carter, slumped against the arm of the sofa, eyes drooping, didn't even notice her friend's apparent epiphany. 

"Oh my god!" Lia blurted, making Carter jump in surprise. "I've just remembered!"

"You've just remembered what?" Carter asked as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. Their late night plan was growing less appealing by the second. 

"I'm shagging Solomon!" Lia said, her tone making her sound as if she was both shocked and proud of her own accomplishment. Carter's eyes flew open in surprise, forgetting her fatigue completely. 

"You're what?!" she practically shrieked, almost certain she had heard her wrong. At least she hoped she had. Surely Lia could not be that irresponsible. 

"I know, I know! I couldn't believe it at first either, but it's happening," Lia said, bouncing a little in her seat. Her parchment slid to the floor, but she hardly noticed. 

"Merlin, Lia, are you kidding me?" Carter hissed, the sound of disappointment cutting through Lia. "Your worst fear is being expelled, and, newsflash, this could get you expelled!"

The bright look in Lia's eyes dropped away, and she retreated into the couch slightly as Carter ranted, her mood soiled completely. 

"You're wrong, you know," she said quietly as Carter began to list the negatives of her and Solomon's relationship.

"What?" Carter asked, stopping abruptly at reason number seventeen. 

"That's not my biggest fear."

Carter opened her mouth to question her, but was interrupted by the guys waltzing down the steps at a leisurely pace, as if they had all the time in the world. Lia silently thanked God for the distraction as she stood up from her seat and took to Remus's side.

"What just happened?" Carter muttered quietly to herself, watching Lia critically as the girl hung onto Remus's arm as if he was her safety blanket. Honestly, Carter was beginning to decide that he was.

"You ready, Edevane?" Sirius called, interrupting her thoughts. 

"For hours, Black," she retorted haughtily, snatching up her leather jacket and following them towards the portrait hole.

-x-x-x-

A breeze tousled James's already messy hair as he pulled the invisibility cloak off of his and Sirius's heads.

"That was a piece of cake," he said once the coast was clear. Lia crossed her arms over her chest, glaring daggers at him. 

"Yeah, for you," she grumbled, thinking of how the rest of them had nearly had a run in with Mrs. Norris and Filch himself. "For us visible few, it wasn't so easy."

"Why is it that James and Sirius always get to use the cloak?" Peter asked, stumbling up behind them. He was wheezing slightly, the running obviously not having agreed with him. Lia had to admit it didn't quite agree with her either, nor her beloved white platform boots. 

"Because it's my cloak, you git. I decide who uses it," James replied haughtily, an arrogant look on his face as he glanced down at his friend. Peter sighed. The least he could do was take turns. Unfortunately, he only invited Sirius underneath the cloak, despite the fact that he was easily the best of the four of them at sneaking around. 

Carter rolled her eyes, though she doubted James could see her in the dark, "And of course it's always James and Sirius," she muttered with disdain. 

"Would you all just shut up? The more time we waste, the less time we have to find out what was making all that noise," Sirius snapped, annoyed with the argument that repeatedly came about every time the invisibility cloak was brought out. If he was being quite honest, it was much easier when it was just him, James, Peter, and Remus in their first year. They could all four mostly fit under the cloak then, if they hunched over slightly. 

Lia glanced nervously in the direction of the daunting forest, squinting as thoughts of what could be inside ran through her brain. Despite the fact that in the deep, dark of night they could only barely make out the outline to the trees. "Guys, are you sure this is worth it?" 

"C'mon, Lia. We can handle this," Remus said confidently, swinging an arm over her shoulders. She gave him a weak smile. 

"We can, can't we?" she replied, trying and failing to feign bravery, albeit more reassured than before. 

"Well, it's now or never," Carter said, stepping next to Lia. "Lumos," the tip of her wand lit up, flooding light in front of her. The others followed her lead quickly, with the exception of Lia, who stared at her wand in concentration, waiting patiently for the tip to start glowing.

Sirius sighed loudly when it lit up after just a moment. "Really, Foxe? Do you have to show off your ability to do nonverbal spells every chance you get?" he said, his voice dripping with jealousy. 

"There are only a handful of things I'm better at than you lot. Of course I'm going to shove it in your faces," Lia retorted, a satisfied smirk playing at the corner of her lips. 

"Being better looking isn't one of them, obviously," James said, running his hand through his hair. Sirius laughed. 

Lia narrowed her eyes at him, staying silent, much to everyone's surprise. James looked over at the rest of the group in satisfaction over the rare occasion of successfully shutting Lia up. It wasn't until Lia gave a flick of her wand and James tripped over his own feet, falling flat on his face, that they realized that silence didn't necessarily mean that Lia was finished with an argument. They all began to laugh hysterically while Lia stood with a triumphant look on her face, her arms crossed over her chest. 

"That wasn't fair! I didn't see it coming!" James exclaimed, picking himself up off the ground. 

"Shut up, James! Do you want to have your blood sucked by a vampire?" Carter said lowly, as they neared the forest.

They all quieted as they made their way inside, for fear of the creatures they may attract. Thanks to Carter, their minds were all plagued with thoughts of blood-thirsty vampires and whatever else lurked in the forest that they were likely to meet during their visit. The sound of leaves and branches crunching under their shoes filled the air, sounding louder than usual in contrast to the silence. Darkness surrounded them threateningly, their wands only letting off a small amount of light in front of them.

Suddenly, a loud howl filled the air from somewhere far into the forest, startling them all. Carter, though not intending to, instinctively grabbed Sirius's forearm as fear leaked into her expression. It wasn't until Sirius looked down and wiggled his eyebrows at her that she let go, and continued on next to Lia instead. The group clung together, tight knit as they continued through the vague path through the trees. Lia jumped in fear at the sound of rustling to their left, and clutched at Carter's hand. 

"What are we even looking for?" Peter whispered loudly, only to be rewarded with a hard smack upside the head and a severe "shhh!" from Sirius. 

"It's far past the thestral field," Sirius said in a loud whisper, though his voice far quieter than Peter's.

The silence quickly consumed them. It was eerily quiet as they continued on at a wary pace. It was like they could feel something or someone lurking in around the corner, just waiting for their chance to jump out and curse them all. Of course, nothing happened, which only proved to make them more nervous. The calm before the storm, it seemed. 

Lia snuggled deeper into her black trench coat as the wind blew against them harder, as if it was attempting to steer them away from the danger hidden inside the depths of the forest. She buried her nose in the collar of her coat, hoping the smell of her own fragrant perfume would make her more at ease. 

It was impossible to tell where they were. There were very few paths inside the forest. Really, there weren't many people courageous enough to wander so deep as to make them. The six of them were most likely on an old centaur trail that was no longer used by the species. The only sight around them was trees in every direction, and various kinds of plants trampled down by who knows what. 

Carter looked up in hopes of feeling at least a little less claustrophobic at the sight of the night sky, littered with familiar stars, but was disappointed to find that every last bit was blocked out completely by heavy, overhanging treetops. She sighed in disappointment, holding tighter onto Lia's hand for fear that any of them get separated. James shivered in front of her, either from the cold or from being more scared than he let on. She had a strong feeling it was the latter of the two.

It seemed like they had been walking for hours, days even, with neither a sense of time nor direction. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Sirius spotted a dark figure on the path somewhat ahead of them. He stopped abruptly, causing some of the others to stumble into him. None of them said a word, as if they all spotted the figure at the same time. Billowing long hair and a curvy figure implied that the mystery person was female, but they barely caught a glimpse of her before her hand shot up in the air and pointed towards them, a bright green blast of light shooting out of what was presumably her wand. Her shadow was obscured almost immediately in the twists of green light. 

The spell just barely skimmed Peter's head. It snapped them all to attention, all scrambling to get away from whatever spell or curse she had thrown their way. Their wands unlit in their panic. Somewhere in the dark, one of them managed to shriek out "Expelliarmus!" 

They didn't even stop to see if it had hit her as they all began running. It was chaotic and confusing, bumping into one another and not bothering to be quiet any longer. Lia and Carter dropped each other's hands, both of them rushing to get as far away as possible. Carter finally broke free of their tangled group, and sprinted away, not bothering to look behind her. She just wanted to get away as fast as physically possible, no matter the direction. She assumed the others were following as she shoved past trees and bushes, barely feeling the branches and twigs catching on her clothes and hair.

-x-x-x-

The others thrashed loudly through the forest, figuring with a light like that there was no point in sneaking around any longer. They could only hope that the centaurs got to the girl before they got to them. If they had had any remote idea where they had been before, it was shattered. All they saw were murky outlines of trees and shadows of each other.

"Fuck!" Lia cried as she felt her foot become entangled in a tree root. She tripped and fell immediately, her face being the first to meet the ground before she knew what was happening. As she scrambled to sit up, she wiped away a disgusting mixture of dirt and blood from her face.

Remus, having heard her yelp, stopped running immediately. 

"Lia!"

He began backtracking, feeling the ground blindly on his hands and knees trying to find her. 

"Oh, what good is that, searching in the dark!?" James spat, lighting his wand. The others followed suit. They searched for her quickly, their eyes catching on shapeless shadows created by their wands. Peter spotted her first. She was sitting up on the ground, holding tightly to her leg. Even through her jeans there was blood everywhere, staining her leg and boots. She didn't even seem to notice the giant split in her lip as she fixated on her knee. 

James reached her first, and yanked her roughly from the ground by her upper arm. Lia winced verbally, almost collapsing as she tried to stand on her injured leg.

"It's okay, Lia. We're almost there," Sirius lied consolingly as Peter and James wrapped their arms around her, supporting her body weight as they ran. On Lia's end, there was a lot more dragging than running, a look of discomfort on her face as she tripped and struggled to make it easier on them. First and foremost they needed to get out of that forest. She could worry about whatever injuries she had later. It was likely she had dealt with worse before anyways. 

It was only then that Sirius looked back at the group and realized Carter was no longer with them. In fact, he couldn't remember when the last time he saw her was. Had she been with them when they ran from the girl, or had she been hit by that spell? He cursed furiously under his breath, and prayed to whoever may have been listening that Carter was all right. 

"Carter!" he exclaimed, catching the attention of the others. "She's not here."

"Sh-shit!" Lia stuttered out, choking back tears from her previous hobbling. Not only was she wounded, but, of course, the icing on the cake had to be that her best friend was missing, and could be hurt or caught anywhere in the Forbidden Forest. She couldn't even begin to entertain the idea that some creature had gotten a hold of Carter. They had all heard what the centaurs did to people that found themselves in their territory. 

"When did we lose her?" Remus asked, his eyes searching the darkness frantically. 

"I don't know. Did she follow us away from whoever the hell that was?"

-x-x-x-

Carter ran through the woods, the sound of her own running filling the space around her. Suddenly she realized that it was just the sound of her own running. She stopped short, and turned around with a panicked look on her face, realizing she was alone in her escape. No one was following her. No one was ahead of her.

The sounds of the forest surrounded her, and she felt suffocated by her sudden loneliness. Her breathing grew short as she turned in circles, hoping to see someone emerge from the clumps of trees. Hoping that perhaps they were only a few feet behind her. After all, she was a pretty fast runner. A loud crunch of leaves stopped her spinning just as she began growing dizzy. 

"Lia?" she said quietly with a tiny sliver of hope. Carter slowly walked forward, fearful of whatever was there and could jump out at her. She could feel a stress headache beginning to form at her temples as she inched towards the origin of the sound.

"Lumos," she whispered, lighting her wand in an attempt to see whatever was there before it saw her. The trees began to thin as she walked, and her heart soared. She had to be close to the exit of the forest. Certainly the crunch was the sound of her friends waiting for her on the edge. 

Or there was always the possibility that it was that mysterious girl waiting for her. The thought made her stop for a moment, wary of continuing. The girl could kill her if she got close enough. But then, she could instead be greeted with the looming sight of Hogwarts if she just walked a few yards ahead.

She trudged on, only to have her hopes crushed immediately as she found herself in a large clearing, bigger than even the Great Hall. There was a giant creature there, facing away from her in a slumber. She stopped behind it, half in terror and half in awe. It was enormous. It almost looked like a white bird with a body similar to that of an eagle, but far greater in size.

Carter stood completely still as she stared at it in morbid curiosity. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knew she should be getting as far away from this thing as possible. But, in the forefront of her mind, she could only think about what this thing could be. It's wings were folded in at it's sides, and she imagined how long they must really be to support a creature that large. Against her better judgement, she took a few steps closer, attempting to get a better look at it.

As per her usual luck, she stepped on a twig within a few seconds. It snapped loudly under the sole of her Doc Martens, making her still and wince as the sound reverberated throughout the clearing. She watched it carefully for a moment and hoped it didn't hear her. Her wishful thinking was diminished, however, as it awoke from its sleep and twisted its neck around, straining to see what was behind it. It locked eyes with Carter, staring at her for a moment as she started back, both too frightened and too curious to move.

For a moment, as she stared into its eyes, it looked almost as curious as she, and more gentle than she expected. The nearly gentle look was quickly replaced with a glare. It let out an unbelievably loud caw, snapping Carter from her reverie. It was even louder than she thought it would be up close. 

Not missing a beat, Carter broke into a run, trying to get as far away from the creature as possible. She didn't waste time turning around to see if it was following, but she didn't hear any sounds other than her own heavy breathing and frantic footsteps. She barely noticed when she smacked into someone until she hit the ground.

-x-x-x-

Sirius led them all through the forest, acting like he knew where he was headed while juggling two tasks at once: running from whatever the hell was chasing them, and keeping an eye out for any sight of Carter. James and Peter lagged far behind, both still supporting Lia as they stumbled through, knocking into trees and bushes in their rush, branches sweeping against them. Sirius glanced behind him to check that they were all still following. It wouldn't do to lose yet another.

He was still looking behind him, not paying attention to where he was going, when he collided with someone running in the opposite direction. He stumbled back, catching himself from falling by grabbing onto a tree branch, the bark cutting roughly into his skin. The other person let out a decidedly feminine grunt in surprise as they hit the ground. Sirius looked up quickly, recognizing that angry grunt. In front of him Carter sat on the ground, rubbing her shoulder from where he had slammed into her.

His spirits lifted exponentially at the sight of her. His eyes quickly scanned her, and he decided she seemed to be in an okay condition. The only problem was how heavy she was breathing, practically wheezing, not even looking in his direction. She seemed to be in something of an incoherent daze. The others caught up behind him, but Carter still hadn't acknowledged his presence.

Not wanting to waste time they didn't have, or risk Carter passing out on them from hyperventilating, he scooped her up in his arms. He carried her as they continued to run through the woods, slowed down even more. The adrenaline coursing through his veins prevented him from really recognizing her added weight, held tightly in his arms. They eventually burst through the trees, thankful for the sight of stars and the castle before them. 

They didn't slow their running until they were standing right next to the castle, leaning on its' walls for support as they all tried to recover as well as they could before sneaking back in. 

"Fucking… shit…" James panted as his chest heaved up and down, already feeling the soreness in his legs. Lia had collapsed onto the cool, stone floor while she rubbed her knee in slow, soothing circles, Sirius sinking to the ground next to her. Carter, now out of his arms, rested in his lap. Her facial expression hadn't changed at all from when they had first found her. Eyes still wide, cheeks rosy and scratched, mouth slightly agape.

"What the hell was that?" Remus said through bated breaths, staring back at the forest. Although he wasn't exactly sure he wanted to find out.


	9. Foreign Tongues

_"It's better to offer no excuse than a bad one."_  
\- George Washington 

-x-x-x- 

The usual late night silence of the common room was filled with terrified whispers when they finally made their way back. They were too afraid both of waking someone and what had just transpired to speak at normal levels. It was as if whispering the words made them less than real. 

Gwen and Lily, too, sat on the common room couches, faces etched with concern. The two had been fidgeting with worry since earlier that day when Carter and Lia had told them that they were going into the forest that night. They had sat up awaiting their return far after the last embers of the fire had died out, and listened intently to the stories their friends had to share after. The most popular subject amongst the group seemed to be their injuries.

Luckily enough, Sirius, James, and Peter's hands and arms were the only parts of their body that seemed to take some hits, save for a few scratches decorating Sirius's face. And somehow, Carter had managed to avoid any injuries at all. 

Remus and Lia, however, had not been so fortunate.Lia's lip had swollen and bruised from where she had busted it, the dried blood nearly obscuring all the cuts littering her face. 

That was nothing compared to her knee though, which had swelled to twice it's normal size, and prevented her from walking without a terribly noticeable limp. Remus, on the other hand, had somehow received a black eye from running through the trees, the branches having hit him with force. 

Lia, from where she sat next to him with her leg propped up on the coffee table, seemed to notice it before he did. "Your eye," she said, brushing over the bruise lightly with her thumb. Remus furrowed his eyebrows and offered a small smile.

"Please, Lia," he replied, nodding in the direction of her bloodied knee, "What about your knee? What about your lip?" 

Lia glanced at her leg, which was being bandaged by an unusually quiet Carter. In fact, until she saw Lia's leg, she hadn't said much of anything after relaying what she had seen in the forest to Gwen and Lily. Lia would have been more worried had she not taken charge and demanded bandages as soon as she noticed her leg. Still, she made a mental note to talk to Carter later before turning back to Remus, whose cheek she still cradled. 

"I've had worse," she murmured, still rubbing her thumb lightly across the black and blue bruise blooming underneath Remus's eye. 

"Worse?" Remus questioned. "From who? What are you talking about?" he asked, concern etched into his face. However, come to think of it, he had seen Lia with more than one injury over the years he had known her. Lia dropped her hand immediately and averted her attention elsewhere without a word.

She looked down at Carter, who was putting the finishing touches on the makeshift bandage tied around her leg. "I can't believe we ruined your Bob Dylan shirt for this," she said with a sigh, gazing forlornly at the bloody scraps left over on the table.

Remus just rolled his eyes, "Well, it was either that, or let you bleed all over your coat. I think Peter chose a decent bandage with the lack of medical supplies I keep in my trunk."

"What even happened to you guys out there?" Lily asked, her eyes on James as he inspected the large scrape on his forearm. 

"Just got nearly killed, Evans. Don't worry about it," Sirius replied casually, leaning his head back against the chair in exhaustion. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to focus on how true that statement really was. He had the distinct feeling that they should probably steer clear of the forest for a bit. 

"Maybe if sneaking out of the castle late at night wasn't you lot's favorite activity, this wouldn't have happened," Gwen retorted, annoyed with Sirius's matter-of-fact attitude. Though, admittedly, she was annoyed with most of Sirius Black's attitudes. "I couldn't sleep all night once I heard Carter mention the Forbidden Forest!"

"Cool your jets, Gwendolyn, we didn't die," James replied. 

"But what if you _had_?" Gwen said in exasperation. "And how do you expect to cover up those injuries?" she added, gesturing towards Remus's eye.

"Why are you so worried anyway? S'not like you'll get in trouble," Sirius said, propping his feet up on the coffee table next to Lia's. Gwen only huffed in reply before standing up and stalking up the steps back to their dorms. Carter rolled her eyes at Gwen, wishing she showed her concern in a less huffy and bossy way.

"She does have a point. How are we going to cover this up?" Peter said, eyeing Lia's swollen lip worriedly.

"I'm sure they won't ask too many questions," Lia began, her voice more hopeful than confident. "After all, my robes will cover my knee, and I can wear sneakers to keep from limping too much."

"That still doesn't do anything for your lip or scratched up face," Remus said, nervous that Lia would be the one most likely to get in trouble and questioned. Everyone else's injuries were too average and mundane to raise many questions. 

"We're fucking wizards, there's gotta be some sort of spell to fix Lia," James replied with a tone of ease.

"I am _not_ letting any one of you near my beautiful face. Or any part of my body, for that matter," Lia retorted quickly.

"Well, we could always blame the scratches on Calypso," Carter offered, speaking of her cat. "That demon will scratch anyone who comes near her."

"Except Remus," Peter said with a chuckle. "It's like it's in love with him or something."

"Very odd indeed, since Remus _is_ more of a dog person," Sirius added, trying to suppress his laughter as Remus eyed them both with disdain for their less than impressive jokes. James cracked a smile, finding Sirius's pun both impressive and clever.

Carter looked from Sirius to Remus with confusion. "Remus doesn't have any pets," she said, narrowing her eyes at them. Almost immediately, the three boys burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter. Carter turned to Lia with a perplexed look. Lia just shrugged. She honestly had no idea what they were talking about. It wasn't like she understood their jokes half the time anyways.

"When did we get this far off topic?" Remus said, trying to halt their amusement. The laughs died away quickly as the three remembered the more serious matter at hand. Smiles fell away to be replaced by somber and contemplative expressions.

"Why does it even matter? We'll cover what we can, and deal with the rest later. I just want to go to sleep," Lia said, ending with a melodramatic sigh. When no one said anything, her shoulders slumped. She promptly leaned over and laid her head on Carter's shoulder, snuggling against her friend and closing her eyes as if she could fall asleep right there. 

After a few moments of quiet, a silent agreement was reached as they gave into their fatigue. They all headed up to bed, Lia using Carter as a crutch as she hobbled up the stairs.

 -x-x-x-

It was nothing short of a miracle that got them through all their classes the next day without more than a second glance from anyone except Severus Snape, who had let out a snide remark about Lia's lip in History of Magic. 

"Manage to snag yourself a werewolf boyfriend? I hear they tend to get rowdy around the full moon," he jeered from where he sat behind Lia.

"I'd snog ten werewolves before I'd snog you," she cut back, and Remus, who had been listening, didn't know whether to feel offended or giddy.

They shuffled into Transfiguration class towards the end of the day as a group, trying to hide Lia's limping from anyone's prying eyes as they all took their seats. Very few people had arrived yet. It seemed their nerves being on edge had made them all oddly prompt.

Professor McGonagall looked up at the group walking in, her eyes widening a bit in surprise to see that they were early, rather than late, as they usually were. She studied them as they took their seats, and was almost immediately drawn to the bruise underneath Remus's eye. Though that wasn't entirely out of the ordinary. It wasn't abnormal for him to show up with various injuries during certain times of the month. What was unusual, however was the bruise on Lia's lower lip, not to mention the scratches on her cheek barely obscured by makeup.

James propped his elbows on the desk in front of him and rested his chin on his upturned palms. McGonagall eyed him critically, "Mr. Potter, I hate to inquire into the personal lives of my students, but I must ask what on earth has happened to your arm," she said, her eyes trained on the large scrape revealed by James's pushed back sleeves.

He jumped in his seat, startled at her question. "Nothing," he replied too quickly, making it sound more like a reflex than an answer. He hastily shoved his sleeves down and put his hands in his lap, effectively hiding his arms from her quizzical gaze.

Before McGonagall could ask any more questions, the remainder of her students filed in, and she sighed as she knew she must hold her tongue at least until the end of class.

Left uneasy by McGonagall's question about James's arms, the six friends remained on their best behavior throughout class, trying to cover anything that might stand out. Lia spent the entire class with her chin propped up on her hand, trying to casually conceal her mouth with her hand. She kicked her legs back and forth, a nervous habit she had picked up years before from her older sister, counting the minutes until class was over and they could escape. 

However, this caused her knee to slip through the opening in the front of her robe, leaving the botched attempt for a bandage exposed for all to see, blood still visible through the white cotton. Thankfully, she noticed the cool air on her leg after only a few minutes, grabbing her robe to cover it tightly. Her eyes darted around the room nervously, hoping that everyone in the room was too preoccupied to notice.

Carter watched Lia's frantic movements from the corner of her eye, and immediately her attention turned to the professor. McGonagall's lecture had slowed as she stared at Lia intently, brows furrowed in concentration. Carter suppressed a groan. She could only come to one conclusion, and that was this: they were screwed. 

Finally, after what felt like a twelve hour transfiguration class, the class was dismissed. The six of them stood up quickly, snapping their textbooks closed, intending to leave just as quickly as they arrived. They hurried towards the door, only to be halted by McGonagall's voice.

"Before you go, Ms. Foxe, could you gather your friends for me? As your head of house, I'd like to have a word with you all."

Lia stopped dead in her tracks and glanced to Carter nervously. They had nearly been home free. "Which friends?" Lia asked in a small voice, her heart sinking.

"Oh, I believe you know who I'm speaking of. In fact, Ms. Edevane should be able to help you locate them all ," Professor McGonagall answered, gesturing towards the door in silent instruction to go find the rest that had somehow managed to slip out of the classroom with ease. 

"We've got Potions next, professor," Carter managed to stutter out, but alas, McGonagall simply waved her hand. 

"Professor Slughorn will be informed of our chat. I'll meet you all in my office," she said in way of dismissal. 

-x-x-x- 

"Why do you think she wants to talk to us?" Peter asked nervously, his voice wavering ever so slightly. They had all been waiting outside of Professor McGonagall's office for nearly ten minutes, wide eyed and nervous, crowded in the hallway. They grew more jittery with each passing second.

"Why do you think, you git?" James snapped, glaring at Peter's ridiculous question. "Now, here's the plan: we all lie, or we're dead," he instructed, sounding more sure than he looked. 

Carter rolled her eyes, "And what a foolproof plan that is."

"Maybe we shouldn't lie," Peter suggested carefully, his eyes darting to each of his friends. "I mean, Dumbledore ought to know that there is a giant bird living in the forest outside his school, shouldn't he?" he asked. He really did believe Dumbledore should be alerted, despite the consequences they would recieve. After all, what if the bird was dangerous? In the long run, wouldn't Dumbledore knowing be better than keeping it to themselves?

"Ah, yes. I have to agree with Peter. Amicus James, sed magis amica veritas," Sirius said, the others looking at him with great confusion. "James is my friend, but truth is a better friend," Sirius translated with an amused smirk.

James glared daggers in his direction, "This is no time for your dumbass Latin phrases, Sirius. We could get expelled for this!"

"I highly doubt we'll get expelled for this, Prongs," Remus said, leaning back against the stone hall wall. For whatever reason, Remus seemed the most relaxed about the entire situation. It seemed that he had more faith in their lying abilities than any of the others did. Really, he just had faith in Lia's lying abilities. The girl could convince someone that they were a muggle, had the mood struck her. 

"Remus, we were in the Forbidden Forest. Forbidden is in the _name_ ," Carter cut in worriedly. Remus only shrugged.

"Oh, sure, Carter. Just tell whoever could be around exactly how we spent last night," Lia snapped, nervousness written all over her face. Carter shot her an annoyed look that Lia conveniently failed to notice, too busy chewing on her red painted thumbnail.

"Relax, guys. We're going to be fine," Sirius said confidently. They all worried far too much in his opinion. It's not like anyone would know for sure if they didn't admit it, and, of course, they weren't. 

It was just then that the door flew open, causing them all to snap to attention and look expectantly at the doorway. Out walked Professor McGonagall, looking even more strict and severe than usual as she ushered them all inside. 

They waited impatiently as she seemed to take her time getting comfortable in a large, oversized and rather intimidating seat. It almost seemed like she enjoyed the look of fear on their faces. 

"I was going to ask you how your days have been, but given the condition some of you are in," she narrowed her eyes slightly at Lia as she spoke, "I am going to skip the pleasantries and get right to it."

Lia's gaze dropped immediately to her hands collected in the lap of her skirt. Professor McGonagall knew. She wasn't certain what all she knew, but she knew something. 

As much as Lia would like to sit and wish the professor hadn't seen the complete mess that was her knee, hidden so carefully beneath the folds of her robes, there was no denying that her hawk-like gaze had caught at least that in class. 

"Which one of you plans on speaking first? Or do I have to force it out of you?" McGonagall said, piercing them all with her critical and accusatory stare. "Mr. Pettigrew? Have you got anything to share?" she inquired, watching as Peter shifted uncomfortably, focusing on his shoes rather than anything else.

"N-no, Professor," he stuttered out, looking everywhere but her. The majority of the group kept their gaze on the ground, not daring to look up in fear that she would be able to see the truth if she caught even a glimpse of their eyes. They all continued to sit in silence for a few uneasy, awkward minutes until McGonagall finally sighed loudly. 

"I have double transfiguration with the Ravenclaws in fifteen minutes. I suppose there's not much for me to do, is there?" she said before rising from her seat. "You may go."

They could hardly believe their luck. Perhaps Sirius had actually been correct, and they would be fine. They were practically running towards the door, rushing to get out and as far away as possible, when she spoke up again.

"Except Ms. Foxe, if you don't mind," she said, warranting them all to freeze where they stood. Carter looked at Lia with a nauseated expression. Lia, however, looked as if she was trying to draw up confidence to face McGonagall on her own, but was miserably failing. Out of all the professors, why on earth did it have to be McGonagall that she was faced with? She could handle any other adult with ease, but there was something about her that really threw Lia off her game. 

They gave Lia one last look of trepidation before they stepped out into the hall.

"Well, maybe we won't _all_ be fine," Sirius muttered under his breath as the door shut behind them. Without hesitation they all immediately pressed their ears to the thick door, straining to hear what was happening on the other side. 

"Do you care to explain why you limped into my classroom this afternoon with an unfortunately swollen lip?" Professor McGonagall asked, pressing her own lips into a thin line of disapproval. 

Lia stared back, feigning confidence until she felt it. That was, after all, her method of action in most situations. 

"I haven't got a clue what you're talking about, Professor," she said, roughly shoving an errant curl behind her ear.

"Lying blatantly to me isn't going to earn you any favors, Ms. Foxe," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "Now, will you please inform me as to why you and a select few of your friends all look as if you had a run in with a centaur between now and dinner last night?"

"I've got nothing to tell you," Lia replied evenly.

"Then I have no choice but to send you to Professor Dumbledore, I suppose. I really was hoping we wouldn't have to do this again this year, Ms. Foxe, but perhaps you'll speak to him about this supposed nothingness."

-x-x-x- 

"I was wondering when I would see you this year, Ms. Foxe. I must say, October is much later than I expected. Especially after last September's misadventures," Professor Dumbledore said from behind his desk, blue eyes twinkling behind his glasses in a way that made one feel like they weren't being scolded quite as harshly as they should be. 

"So what is it this time? Caught after hours in the Hufflepuff boys' dorm yet again? Or perhaps it was yet another enchanted muggle item? I do seem to recall quite a few of those in your past."

Lia stood before his desk, hands clasped tightly behind her as she listened patiently. "No, sir," she replied simply.

"Ah, yes. I do believe Professor McGonagall mentioned something about you and your friends arriving in her class looking worse for wear. Though I hardly needed anyone to tell me that, what with the condition of your lower lip. And don't think I didn't notice the limp you carried in here," Dumbledore said, any hint of the twinkle in his eyes before completely gone. 

Lia paled a bit, "It's nothing, really, Professor," Lia assured him. "I promise you haven't got anything to worry about."

"Well, Professor McGonagall seems to think otherwise, and I have to say I am inclined to agree with her," Dumbledore said, watching Lia closely for her reaction.

After a moment of heavy silence, Lia spoke up. "Did you get new robes, Professor?" I have to say, purple is most definitely your color. Totally groovy."

"Athaliah, you know very well that we aren't here to discuss my new robes," he said, obviously disapproving of her attempt to change the subject. "However, thank you all the same. The staff here hardly ever recognizes new robes when they see them."

"I really don't have much else to discuss," Lia said, a corner of her lips quirking up in amusement. She considered suggesting he get blue robes next, but she was on a good path and she wasn't sure he would take kindly to her fashion advice. Even if they would bring out his eyes. 

"Not even that limp of yours?"

"We all slip in the shower at least once in our lives, I think."

"And I suppose that's where you hurt your lip as well?"

"You're very perceptive, sir," Lia replied, trying not to show relief on her face as she continued to worm herself out of his questioning. Thankfully, six years of mischief - or screwing around, as Gwen liked to call it - and getting sent to the headmaster's office paid off on some level. At least she understood the basics of how Dumbledore worked; McGonagall, on the other had, was a mystery wrapped in an enigma that she didn't think anyone would ever quite figure out. 

"Very well, Ms. Foxe. Though if you do think of anything that you may want to share with me, do not hesitate to do so," Professor Dumbledore said, begrudgingly letting her off the hook. 

After all, he could hardly punish her for something he wasn't even certain she did. Yes, it was certain something happened, that was undeniable, but there was nothing definitive. He just hoped she didn't get herself into too much trouble with whatever it was that she was into. 

Lia turned on her heel, anxious to get out of his office.

"Do please go visit Madam Pomfrey about that knee of yours, Athaliah. We wouldn't want it to get infected with any dirt from that shower," he called after her, just as she was slipping out of his office.

-x-x-x- 

Her friends were all waiting in the common room with worried looks when Lia finally burst through the portrait hole, a grin on her face, no longer trying to hide her limp, "How's it, gents?"

They were all seated on the couches around the fire, anxiously awaiting her return. Now they understood why Gwen had been so short with them last night; this was agony. Upon hearing her voice, they all stood up quickly, turning to try and determine what had happened by just the look on her face. Needless to say, they weren't expecting the easy smile or sparkling eyes. 

"How'd it go?" Carter questioned, still paranoid despite the smile Lia was wearing with pride. Lia didn't answer until she reached the others and fell back into one of the couches.

"Couldn't have gone better. I love Dumbledore," she replied, sprawling out with both legs on the coffee table. She sighed comfortably and let her eyes fall close. They all stared at her, stunned.

"What?" she said, opening one eye to look at them all. "Why do you all look so surprised?"

"He didn't yell at you?" Sirius asked, snagging the seat next to her. She quirked an eyebrow, as if to say "he yells at you?"

"Rule number one, love: a person never yells at someone who recognizes and compliments their new robes," she chirped, stretching her arms over her head. "Now, who wants to go see Madam Pomfrey with me? Apparently me knee could get infected."

 


End file.
